Adventuring on the Salish Sea!
On Sunday Robin took us on a kayaking excursion along the coastline. We got up bright and early to meet her and then we all drove to the San Juan County Park to launch our kayaks into Smallpox Bay. We got a brief introduction to kayaking and then put on our “spray skirts” and headed out. We were in tandem kayaks, Mandy and I were in one, and Emalie and Kelsey in the other. Mandy, sitting in the back, was in charge of steering and did a great job in steering us close (but not too close) to the rocks to see the interesting organisms. We saw many purple pisaster starfish. Robin even found a gumboot chiton and gently plucked it from the rocks to show us. It looked like a giant red slug with a hard shell. As we made our way along the coast the wind began to pick up. We also saw some juvenile bald eagles fighting over the remains of a crab. Being from San Diego, I haven’t seen many bald eagles, and boy, are they huge. After seeing an eagle, Â I was inspired to learn a bit more about these majestic birds.
Pisaster
Eagle
Robin also arranged for us to go help her friend, Doug Mcutchen of the San Juan County Land Bank, restore the Beaverton Valley Marsh. Presently, the wetland is overrun by non-native reed canarygrass which outcompetes the natural plant species. Earlier volunteers planted native plants such as gooseberry, willow, and black hawthorn along the margins of the wetlands. By planting natural species, they hoped to improve the wetlands diversity and enhance its habitat value for birds and other animals. Our goal was to aid the pre-planted natural species, black hawthorn, gooseberry, and willow, in hopes that they would grow to be healthy and shade out the invasive grass. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were all thrilled to be outside helping the environment.
Shoveling mulch
We began our restoration by putting white plastic tubes around the important native plants to shelter and protect them from foraging deer and voles. We then put cardboard around the base and mulch on top to give the plants nutrients and a stable start. I thoroughly enjoyed being outside in the sun all day. We even saw some spring peepers, which are cute little green frogs.
There is an abundance of wildlife living in this area. I have seen black and red foxes running all over, and they are adorable. Mandy was quick enough to get some photos of the black one.
Neighborhood fox
On Saturday before we went on the boat, we made a trip out to Lopez Island for the day. Since downtown Lopez is small, we had time to go into every store . While Kelsey  interviewed for a summer job, we got ice-cream and ate it on the beach.
Lopez downtown
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