Blog Credits: Katelyn Poon, Emily Mark, and Isabelle Osborn

Today we returned to our early wakeup times, waking up at 6:45 am. Everyone was a little tired as we made our way downstairs to breakfast. We then headed to the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company to learn from Chas Lawson on how they farm oysters. There we received a tour of the docks, getting to see the oysters being grown on the beach and the baby oysters also.

After visiting Westcott bay we headed to Young hill to learn more from Adam Martin about the ecology of the region. As we hiked up to the top of young hill to see the spectacular view, Adam Martin taught us about the history of the forest and prairie there and we learned how to read the land and understand what we were seeing. We learned how Young Hill didn’t used to be a forest, but rather a prairie, and how it was only in the last century that the young Douglass Fir forest grew. Additionally, we learned about the frequent burnings Native Americans used to do to the forest, and how many of the trees evolved with this.

Adam taught us how to tell how old the trees were by looking at the harness and depth of the groves in the park and the amount of small branches on the tree. On our hike we also encountered the Gary Oak, or the Oregon White Oak, and learned how important they are to the ecosystem. They provide important shelter and food to a wide variety of animals, and there are currently many efforts being done to preserve them. They are the only Oak that grows in Washington. We also encountered a tree that was struck by lightning in the storm two days ago, which was really incredible to see.

Finally, we made it to the top, eating our lunches and discussing our project ideas with Adam Martin. For the third section of our packed day, we headed to the Friday Harbor Marina to monitor to water quality, testing for the presence of Fecal Coliform, a bacteria that comes from the feces of warm blooded animals and is harmful to humans. We took glass bottles and using a wooded holding stick dipped them into the water additionally monitoring the water temperature and salinity.

Once back at the dorms we headed to the school’s lab, where we used a vacuum pump to collect the bacteria into a filter, placing them in an incubator with the aim to grow them to become visible to our human eyes. Once visible we will be able to quantify the amount of bacteria. We will update you tomorrow with the experiment’s results!

We then settled back in at the dorms, spending some time working on our projects and getting to our various tasks!

Tonight we are excited to welcome UW research scientist Dr. Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, a globally respected specialist in sea grasses, whose primary investigations are at the Friday Harbor Labs focused on eelgrass. He is also on the faculties of the School of Environmental Sciences at University of Victoria in BC and the College of Science and Math at the University of the Virgin Islands. Our homework for this evening is to read two of his papers that will shape tonight’s discussion, one is: Tending the meadows of the sea: a disturbance experiment based on traditional indigenous harvesting of Zostera marina L.(Zosteraceae) the southern region of Canada’s west coast. Aquatic Botany, 127, pp.26-34.

Blog Credits: Emily Mark, Katelyn Poon, and Isabelle Osborn

The day started off early with a wonderful wake up time of 5:00 am. We emerged from our tents to a cold and foggy dawn, with our ticket to breakfast being fully packed. Half asleep, we packed up our tents with frigid fingers and sat down to a breakfast of yogurt and granola, with hot chocolate and coffee for those who wanted. Thank you to our awesome guides Maggie, Maddy, and Kate!

After an hour of packing we made our way down to the beach to load up our kayaks with all the gear. Everything had to fit within tiny dry bags and be shoved into a compartment in the kayak. Wrapped up in many layers and rain coats, we ventured out on the frigid water.

Finding the Kayaking much easier this time than two days ago, due to the currents and winds lending us their strength, we made quick time past Yellow Island and landed on a beach on San Juan Island in just under two hours, for a short pee and snack break.

We then set off again for another long crossing, some of us soaking wet, and braved the fearsome ferries attempting to plow us down. The current turned against us and paddling became tedious but luckily lunch was not far out! We stopped at Turn Island to eat our turkey sandwiches, oreos, and chips, doing our best to dry off in the fleeting sunlight.

After Turn Island we had only a short 10 minute crossing left. All of us suddenly learned how to paddle without splashing water just in time to make our final destination on San Juan Island. On the beach we mustered our strength one last time to haul the kayaks up to the vans. We arrived back at the dorms very excited for clean clothes and a warm shower! After a break, some ventured into town to shop, others played cards in the yard, and some took naps. We all came together around 3 pm to work on the blogs.

Tonight we are so excited to welcome a very special guest, Emilio Santiago, an Archaeological Anthropologist. He has worked in many states and places including the San Juan archipelago, Arizona, California, and Colorado to manage and document historical and archaeological site. He has worked with the National Park Service across multiple regions, focusing on San Juan Island National Historic Park. Tonight he is joining us for pizza from Bakery San Juan and will talk to us about his experiences.

Learn more about him at: emiliosantiago.wordpress.com

(Everyone’s phones were dead by the end of the trip, except for Katelyn. She is also a great photographer).