Yellow Island’s Wildflowers with The Garden Club

The sunshine and warmth on May Day provided a perfect window for setting out on the sea to another nearby island.

But first… Some facts about Yellow Island that I’ve compiled from various websites:

• 11 acres
• 50 species of wildflowers
• Bald eagles, harbor seals, black oystercatchers, and harlequin ducks
• Was cultivated and dug for centuries by over 17 known Pacific Northwest tribes
• Used by indigenous population for harvesting plant foods such as the bulbs of the camas flower before Europeans came
• Women who traditionally managed camas used fire to keep bushes like snowberry, ocean spray, and serviceberry from smothering their crop, and to keep trees from taking over the island
• Camas was once in the lily family and is now part of Asparagaceae
• Camas’s genus name is from the Nez Perce word for sweet: Qém’es
• Camas has hints of garlic, fig, and pear, and was traditionally slow roasted in sand pits or slow boiled
• The Coast Salish Youth Coalition stewards camas prairies in the San Juans and they burn, plant, harvest, bake, and eat camas
• Baking camas is done low and slow until the indigestible inulin breaks down into fructose, creating an oniony, creamy, sweet treat
• Other wildflowers include red harsh paintbrush, yellow buttercups, stonecrop, and chocolate lilies
• Intentional burning kept the tree population in check, maintaining the prairies
• Named by Charles Wilkes, the commander of the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, supposedly due to the yellow Ranunculus occidentalis flowers blooming in April and May
• Wilkes was described “as a man of shallow intellect, meager understanding and emotional instability,” “a leader of a sea-going expedition that was neither a leader nor a seaman”
• Lewis and Elizabeth Dodd bought the island in the fall of 1945 and sold it in 1979 to The Nature Conservancy
• The Dodds built a cottage from driftwood collected on the beach and panes of glass from their chicken coop on Orcas Island
• Visitors are allowed from 10 am to 4 pm ~ no pets or food
• Small enough to be explored in one visit
• The only access is in a private boat or kayak, and the closest ferry is on Orcas Island
• There is no moorage, so a beach-landing craft is necessary
• The only resident of Yellow Island is steward Ángel Quimbita, 27, a native of Los Angeles who gathers plant data for a long-term dataset and weeds the island a minimum of two hours daily

Now on to the photo tour… MANY THANKS to The Orcas Island Garden Club for planning this adventure and allowing non-members to participate, and to various boaters and yacht club members for getting us there and back…

This information comes from:

https://www.biographic.com/tending-to-paradise/ (I recommend reading this recent article)

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/yellow-island/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Island

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/yellow-island-preserve

https://gardenrant.com/2021/05/exploring-yellow-island.html