Blog
Salmon Watchers Toast Big Year
The 2012 Salmon Watchers gathered for soup and stories last weekend to celebrate the best salmon return since 2003. A grand total of 202 live and dead fish were recorded by 23 enthusiastic volunteers of all ages (from 4 years old to over 65). The fish were mainly coho...
A Salamander Valentine
If you find your flashlight and take a moonlit walk to one of Vashon’s forested ponds or wetlands tonight you might witness the incredible way nature celebrates Valentine’s Day. This may not be your partner’s idea of a typical romantic evening, but it will be...
An Interview with Naturalist/Author/Inspiration Robert Michael Pyle
Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Society is hosting a talk and book signing with the inimitable naturalist and nature writer Robert Michael Pyle next Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7 pm at the Land Trust building. It’s hard to know where to start when introducing Bob—his talents are...
Paying attention to subtle changes in nature
The following piece was published as a guest editorial on the environment in the November 28th Beachcomber issue. It discusses the subtlety of environmental change and why the Vashon Maury Island Groundwater Protection Committee's newly released environmental report...
Permission to go into the woods
I’m salmon watching at Baldwin Creek this fall, a rivulet just north of Shinglemill that also empties into the Fern Cove Estuary. My teen-aged daughter was dubious when I first showed her the little stream and has reminded me ever since, “There won’t be any salmon in...
Bioblissed: Absolutely everyone counts at the 2012 Bioblitz
My daughter and I arrived at Neill Point, unloaded the car and took a look around the maple-ringed clearing. We were the first to arrive, could we start counting yet? The sun broke through for the first time all week (part of the magic of our Island BioBlitz was the...
Collect a cloud today
It’s hard not to notice a spring sky. Like throw pillows of the gods, towering piles of cumulus clouds dominate the horizon. Or they loom ominously overhead like bulbous gray zeppelins, warning us not to get too attached to the parts of the sky that remain...
Get your green on with nettles!
All around us myriad shades of green are nudging out the gray-brown wash of winter. Buds, blossoms, needles and leaves are unfurling with time-lapse-camera speed, responding to nature’s unseen alarm. For those in the know, one of the most exciting of the re-emerging...
Stars in my eyes
When Orion strides into the skyscape each year I feel like I’m greeting an old friend, and I’m reminded of the first time I ever saw him. Standing on the sidewalk in front of my childhood home in Oregon, my mom showed me how to chain together the stars that outlined...
Header Photo: Bianca Perla