Be a Valentine for a Camper

60 Orkila campers to go to meet our fundraising goals!

Please click HERE to support a camper today!

41 PLACES TO GO IN 2011

Recently the New York Times released an article titled "41 Places to Go in 2011" - and below is an excerpt.

2. San Juan Islands, Wash.
Bold-face restaurateurs vie with unspoiled nature. Nature wins.

The big draw for the San Juan Islands this year just might be its dining scene. Blaine Wetzel, a former chef at the wildly acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant Noma, took the reins at Willows Inn on Lummi Island (due to reopen on Feb. 10), while Lisa Nakamura, who has trained with big-name chefs like Thomas Keller, opened Allium on Orcas Island.

But the eternal lure of the San Juans — what brings chefs out as well as tourists — are the landscapes. On islands from Shaw to Decatur, pastoral hills give way to broody forests and scrappy escarpments that overlook fjordlike inlets. Thanks to an active land preservation effort by organizations like the San Juan County Land Bank, each year new areas are protected from logging or unruly development, and in turn provide fresh terrain for the public to explore.

Last year, the San Juan Island National Historic Park grew by 312 acres with the purchase of densely forested Mitchell Hill. On Lopez Island, a 50-year lease signed by the state Department of Natural Resources in 2009 now protects the Lopez Hill area from logging; a web of public trails winds past mossy conifers and madrona trees with peeling cinnamon-red bark. And some smaller parcels have the air of a secret about them, like the spectacular Watmough Bay Preserve on Lopez, with a trail that leads to a strip of beach on a wooded inlet, its moody water as magically lighted as a Bierstadt painting.

— SARA DICKERMAN

CAMP MAINTENANCE NEVER STOPS

All of Camp's fire extinguishers are being checked and serviced today.

Note: this image only reflects a fraction of camp's collection of extinguishers!

DOE BAY CAFÉ HELPS TO SUPPORT CAMP

Every month Doe Bay Café on Orcas Island has been supporting a local non-profit, as they donate $1 of each pizza sale to an organization. This month they will be supporting YMCA Camp Orkila’s Partners With Youth Campaign. So throughout the month of February, come visit Doe Bay Café on Thursdays to enjoy great pizza AND support Camp!

Thursdays only. Pizza served from 5 pm - 10 pm. Open Mic starts @ 7:30 pm.

MARINE LECTURE SERIES: FEBRUARY 8TH

“Beaver and Salmon working together? What next?”

The beaver, at work building dams that help the salmon habitat. Photo courtesy of Greg Hood

When Greg Hood went looking for sweetgale plants in the Skagit River delta, he found something interesting and unexpected.

Hood is a senior research scientist at the Skagit River System Cooperative in La Conner, working on salmon recovery issues. Sweetgale is an important plant for juvenile salmon because it overhangs the water in tidal estuaries, providing salmon shelter and food in the form of insects that fall off the plants.

Hood found sweetgale, but he also found beavers. Well, not the beavers themselves, they’re nocturnal. But he found plenty of dams, pools, and tracks, especially near the sweetgale plants.

We’re accustomed to thinking of beavers as freshwater animals that gnaw down upland forests “like furry chain-saw gangs,” in the words of Seattle Times writer Lynda Mapes. But although beavers don’t live in the ocean, they can tolerate the moderate salinity of tidal estuaries. And guess what, the actions of the beavers benefit salmon.

Come hear Greg Hood speak about the complex interactions between plants, insects, salmon & beavers on Tuesday, February 8 at 7:00 pm at YMCA Camp Orkila on Orcas Island.

The 2010/11 Marine Science Lecture Series was created to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free. Please park in the upper parking lot at Camp Orkila. Shuttle service from the parking lot to the talk is available before and after the lecture.

The lecture Series is presented by program partners The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila. It has been made possible through generous sponsorship by Tom Averna (Deer Harbor Charters), Eclipse Charters, West Sound Marina and co-sponsorship by Barbara Brown, The Kingfish Inn and Shearwater Kayaks.

Article from Bull Wings: Orcas Issues, Views, and News