Orcas Island — August 2005

Yellow Island

At a charity auction a while back, we won a chance to tour Yellow Island, a tiny little island in the San Juans that's owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. The high season for visiting Yellow Island is the spring, when the island is covered with wildflowers, but the island still has plenty to offer in late summer. The island's caretaker, Phil Green, meets us at Deer Harbor on Orcas, and ferries us across to Yellow Island.

Liya, all suited up in her life jacket for the boat trip

Approaching tiny Yellow Island

Landing on the shore

Phil Green takes us on a nice walk around the island. We stop to check the visitor log book.

One reason Yellow Island is of interest to The Nature Conservancy is that much of the island is covered in prairie grass. Native Americans used to maintain the island's prairie with regular controlled fires, a practice the Conservancy continues today. We're visiting the island about two weeks before the annual burn, and the island is covered with dry grass.

Walking through the prairie grass

Liya has fun walking through the grass

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