This weekend Canoe Island French Camp was honored to host
members and friends of the FRIENDS of the San Juans, an organization founded in
1979 that advocates for healthy and sustainable communities in the San Juan
Islands. For Stephanie Buffum, the FRIENDS Executive Director, there are three
key pieces to creating a thriving community: citizen science, community
engagement and continuity of people being there.
Tina Whitman with a captive audience at Malmaison beach
Tina Whitman, the FRIENDS science director, shared her citizen
science research techniques for monitoring and restoring forage fish habitats. Gary
Bergren from Lopez recounted a story of witnessing surf smelt spawning in an
area that had been restored a year earlier. Troy Olsen of Lummi Indian Nation
gave a powerful talk on the reef net
fishing revival movement and presented his handmade model of a sxwole (reef net). Debbie Fincher from
San Juan Excursions introduced the group to the resident orcas and ways to
advocate for them.
Joseph, Troy, Mike, Shirley, Stephanie and Connie with Troy's model sxwole
Between discussions folks enjoyed the wonderful homemade
cuisine, canoed, kayaked, played soccer and tennis, roamed the island in search
of plants and birds and gathered around a campfire for songs and s’mores. The
thriving community experienced this weekend is just the beginning of the many
enduring friendships to be made here this summer during camp. We at Canoe
Island would like to thank all who participated this weekend and we hope to see
you, à bientôt.
