Kwiaht
@kwiaht.org
Your local laboratory in the San Juan Islands for the science to support good stewardship. Posts by @arbutocrat.bsky.social
Tonight! Kwiaht ecologist Russel Barsh at the Lopez Library with Shining a Light on Local Moths starting at 6pm. And while you are there you can see local high school artist (and Kwiaht lab tech) Sophie Citro's moth art and buy a ticket (or many) for her moth sculpture raffle.
November 13, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Tonight! Kwiaht ecologist Russel Barsh at the Lopez Library with Shining a Light on Local Moths starting at 6pm. And while you are there you can see local high school artist (and Kwiaht lab tech) Sophie Citro's moth art and buy a ticket (or many) for her moth sculpture raffle.
Join us for our 7th annual Camas Festival! A potluck featuring camas (Camassia leichtlinii) based dishes and presentations and discussion of camas cultivation. Saturday October 25th 12-3pm at the Stevens Center of the Padilla Bay National
Estuarine Research Reserve. www.kwiaht.org/calendar.htm
Estuarine Research Reserve. www.kwiaht.org/calendar.htm
October 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Join us for our 7th annual Camas Festival! A potluck featuring camas (Camassia leichtlinii) based dishes and presentations and discussion of camas cultivation. Saturday October 25th 12-3pm at the Stevens Center of the Padilla Bay National
Estuarine Research Reserve. www.kwiaht.org/calendar.htm
Estuarine Research Reserve. www.kwiaht.org/calendar.htm
More heritage apple events coming up in October! Our third annual apple tasting with the Orcas Museum is Saturday October 4th (12:30-2:30), and on October 11th we're joining the San Juan County Land Bank, apple ID expert Lori Brakken, and master orchardist Marguerite Greening for Apple-Palooza
September 30, 2025 at 5:54 PM
More heritage apple events coming up in October! Our third annual apple tasting with the Orcas Museum is Saturday October 4th (12:30-2:30), and on October 11th we're joining the San Juan County Land Bank, apple ID expert Lori Brakken, and master orchardist Marguerite Greening for Apple-Palooza
Western leafcutter bee (Megachile perihirta) taking off from a Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle) inflorescence near Cattle Point (San Juan Islands National Monument).
August 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Western leafcutter bee (Megachile perihirta) taking off from a Cirsium vulgare (bull thistle) inflorescence near Cattle Point (San Juan Islands National Monument).
Do you need more ways to enjoy this years abundant crop of t’áqa7? We have added recipes to the Food Security section of our website.
August 17, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Do you need more ways to enjoy this years abundant crop of t’áqa7? We have added recipes to the Food Security section of our website.
Our 2nd annual Hummel Lake fishing derby starts at 8am on Saturday June 28th. Weigh-in ends at 4:30 and prizes are awarded at 5pm. Register at the WDFW boat launch on the day of the event. Contact brett@kwiaht.org with questions.
June 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Our 2nd annual Hummel Lake fishing derby starts at 8am on Saturday June 28th. Weigh-in ends at 4:30 and prizes are awarded at 5pm. Register at the WDFW boat launch on the day of the event. Contact brett@kwiaht.org with questions.
Dasysyrphus intrudens, a common and widespread North American hoverfly, enjoying a meal of Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry) nectar. Syrphid hoverflies like this one should be welcomed in Northwest gardens; their larvae eat aphids voraciously.
June 7, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Dasysyrphus intrudens, a common and widespread North American hoverfly, enjoying a meal of Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry) nectar. Syrphid hoverflies like this one should be welcomed in Northwest gardens; their larvae eat aphids voraciously.
We're seining at Watmough Bight this evening (4pm). Everyone welcome to help pull the net and sort fish.
May 29, 2025 at 3:19 PM
We're seining at Watmough Bight this evening (4pm). Everyone welcome to help pull the net and sort fish.
Community science volunteer Anita Holladay documented an extensive Noctiluca scintillans bloom around Indian Island. Noctiluca is a native, non-toxic dinoflagellate; blooms are triggered by warm weather and nutrients in runoff.
May 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Community science volunteer Anita Holladay documented an extensive Noctiluca scintillans bloom around Indian Island. Noctiluca is a native, non-toxic dinoflagellate; blooms are triggered by warm weather and nutrients in runoff.
We found two Kennerly clams (Humilaria kennerleyi) during the first day of our annual bivalve census with at Indian Island. These distinctively ridged clams are named in honor of C.B.R. Kennerly (1830-1861), the naturalist who surveyed island wildlife for the boundary commission in the 1850s.
April 30, 2025 at 3:13 PM
We found two Kennerly clams (Humilaria kennerleyi) during the first day of our annual bivalve census with at Indian Island. These distinctively ridged clams are named in honor of C.B.R. Kennerly (1830-1861), the naturalist who surveyed island wildlife for the boundary commission in the 1850s.
Shore lupines (Lupinus littoralis) are in bloom at Cattle Point (San Juan Islands National Monument), and the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) butterflies are everywhere!
April 27, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Shore lupines (Lupinus littoralis) are in bloom at Cattle Point (San Juan Islands National Monument), and the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) butterflies are everywhere!
An Echo Azure butterfly (Celastrina echo) on garden bluebells.
April 27, 2025 at 5:53 PM
An Echo Azure butterfly (Celastrina echo) on garden bluebells.
Bees do it! For solitary bees flowers are the place to find mates. Male bees hang around flowers and wait for female bees to come in search of pollen and nectar. Here one of our native miner bee species (Andrena barbilabris) take advantage of early blooming big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
April 9, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Bees do it! For solitary bees flowers are the place to find mates. Male bees hang around flowers and wait for female bees to come in search of pollen and nectar. Here one of our native miner bee species (Andrena barbilabris) take advantage of early blooming big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Join Kwiaht, the Lopez Island Historical Society, the Lopez Island Master Gardeners, and apple expert Lori Brakken for our second annual hands-on heritage fruit tree grafting workshop and scionwood exchange on Sunday, April 6, 1-4PM, at the Lopez Museum.
April 3, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Join Kwiaht, the Lopez Island Historical Society, the Lopez Island Master Gardeners, and apple expert Lori Brakken for our second annual hands-on heritage fruit tree grafting workshop and scionwood exchange on Sunday, April 6, 1-4PM, at the Lopez Museum.
Want to know more about ticks in the San Juan Islands? Kwiaht and Lil Labs invite you to a hands on workshop this Saturday March 22nd at the Mullis Senior Center in Friday Harbor from 1-2pm.
March 21, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Want to know more about ticks in the San Juan Islands? Kwiaht and Lil Labs invite you to a hands on workshop this Saturday March 22nd at the Mullis Senior Center in Friday Harbor from 1-2pm.
One of the first to bloom, Olsynium douglasii (satin flowers) are just getting started at Iceberg Point (San Juan Islands National Monument)
March 12, 2025 at 11:15 PM
One of the first to bloom, Olsynium douglasii (satin flowers) are just getting started at Iceberg Point (San Juan Islands National Monument)
Some of the first ts'éx̲ts'ex̲ (t̕ᶿə́x̣t̕ᶿəx̣, Urtica dioica, stinging nettle) coming up under a q’émenilhch (or t̕ᶿθéʔəɬč, Acer macrophyllum, big leaf maple).
February 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Some of the first ts'éx̲ts'ex̲ (t̕ᶿə́x̣t̕ᶿəx̣, Urtica dioica, stinging nettle) coming up under a q’émenilhch (or t̕ᶿθéʔəɬč, Acer macrophyllum, big leaf maple).
We're hosting a meadow-making workshop with Rosie Cayou's Indigenous Plants Forum on Sunday March 2nd from 10am-2:30pm on Lopez Island (meeting at the Kwiaht office to start with meadow field trips followed by an indoor session at the McCauley Farm). Contact @arbutocrat.bsky.social for more info.
February 24, 2025 at 10:42 PM
We're hosting a meadow-making workshop with Rosie Cayou's Indigenous Plants Forum on Sunday March 2nd from 10am-2:30pm on Lopez Island (meeting at the Kwiaht office to start with meadow field trips followed by an indoor session at the McCauley Farm). Contact @arbutocrat.bsky.social for more info.
Join us and our Indian Island Marine Health Observatory volunteers for the Tides of March. March 15th 2:30-3:30pm at Emmanuel Episcopal Church Parish Hall in Eastsound.
February 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Join us and our Indian Island Marine Health Observatory volunteers for the Tides of March. March 15th 2:30-3:30pm at Emmanuel Episcopal Church Parish Hall in Eastsound.
Happy Year of the Snake from Corra! Corra is one of the wild Sharp-tailed Snakes living on San Juan that Kwiaht herpetologist Christian Oldham finds visiting his array of artificial cover objects.
January 29, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Happy Year of the Snake from Corra! Corra is one of the wild Sharp-tailed Snakes living on San Juan that Kwiaht herpetologist Christian Oldham finds visiting his array of artificial cover objects.
Help us celebrate the upcoming year of the snake: name a sharp-tailed snake www.kwiaht.org/snakes.htm
December 23, 2024 at 12:51 AM
Help us celebrate the upcoming year of the snake: name a sharp-tailed snake www.kwiaht.org/snakes.htm
On Saturday we hosted an apple tasting (& community pressing) with the Lopez Island Historical Society & Lopez Gleaners. Of the 39 varieties sampled Wagener scored highest. This variety was developed in New York around 1790 and has been grown in the San Juan Islands since at least 1899.
October 14, 2024 at 7:01 PM
On Saturday we hosted an apple tasting (& community pressing) with the Lopez Island Historical Society & Lopez Gleaners. Of the 39 varieties sampled Wagener scored highest. This variety was developed in New York around 1790 and has been grown in the San Juan Islands since at least 1899.