Other News
Feb 12, 2025: Call for Candidates: Three-Day Special Filing Period for Lopez Metropolitan Park District Commissioners
Jan 19, 2025: Four districts, six unions, three PTAs, and county leadership all agree: legislators must take action to fully fund education no
Dec 19, 2024: San Juan County Parks and Fair Announces New Camping Software; Delaying Reservation Availability
Dec 10, 2024: County Council Considers Extending Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste to Allow for More Collaboration
Dec 5, 2024: San Juan County to Consider Updated Interlocal Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District
Dec 2, 2024: San Juan County Council Sets Public Hearing for Cultural Access Sales Tax at Dec. 10 Meeting
Nov 25, 2024: San Juan County Celebrates Completion of Lopez Skate Park and Calls for Inaugural Skaters
Nov 7, 2024: How Has Extreme Weather Impacted You? Participate in the County’s Climate Resilience Planning Effort
Nov 1, 2024: UPDATE: Sea Wall Repairs Temporarily Close MacKaye Harbor Dock and Boat Ramp on Lopez Island
Oct 22, 2024: DRAFT North Shore Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Oct 21, 2024: Reminder: You’re Invited to Attend Open Houses for the 2025 Comp Plan Update This Fall
Oct 1, 2024: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE SAN JUANS SPONSORS OCTOBER COUNTY COUNCIL VOTER FORUMS ON SJI, ORCAS, AND LOPEZ
Sep 24, 2024: County Hosts Community Meeting on Lopez Island to Discuss Public Safety during Hunting Season
Sep 24, 2024: SJC Reviews Shoreline Habitat & Infrastructure Adaptation Strategies in the face of Sea Level Rise
Sep 23, 2024: DRAFT Watmough Bay Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Aug 29, 2024: San Juan County’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Survey Sets Baseline for Ongoing Change
Aug 27, 2024: 2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners Gardening Workshop Series, October 15-24, 2024
Aug 27, 2024: County Representatives Discuss Solutions to Ferry Service Disruptions with Governor Inslee
Aug 21, 2024: County Council’s Request to Governor for Relief from Ferry Service Disruptions Not Fulfilled
Aug 20, 2024: San Juan County Certifies Primary Election Results & Celebrates Highest Primary Turnout in Years
Aug 13, 2024: WSF Commits Additional Crews to Interisland Route to Ensure Service During County Fair Week
Aug 13, 2024: Ferry Data from Staff and Local Partners Shapes Council Request for ‘Executive Relief’ From WA State
Aug 5, 2024: The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 27th Summer Concert Season
May 2, 2024: WA State Governor and Assistant Secretary of WSF Talk Ferry Service & Solar Power with SJC Officials
Apr 11, 2024: Community Meeting: Sea Level Rise Adaptation for Outer Bay and Agate Beach Areas on Lopez Island
Mar 11, 2024: Queers in Unexpected Places: Searching for (and Finding) Gender and Sexual Non-Conformity in the Rural and Early PNW
Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Help track bird flu in the islands!
Aug 5, 2022
By Kwiaht
At least one confirmed and six suspected cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the aggressive new variant of “bird fluâ€, have recently been identified in wild birds in San Juan County. We are asking all islanders to be on the lookout for freshly dead birds that can be sampled and tested for the HPAI virus; and to minimize contact between domestic poultry and wild birds.
HPAI is most widespread in domestic flocks of chickens and other poultry, but can also be passed to wild birds through close contact, such as raptor predation on backyard chickens.
Songbirds are currently considered to be at low risk for HPAI.
Nearly 2,000 cases in wild birds have been documented nationwide since January, mainly on the East Coast and Great Lakes, but almost every state has been affected. There have been 45 reported cases in Washington State so far. By comparison, HPAI has killed an estimated 17 million chickens and other domestic fowl in the United States this year, according to USDA.
Raptors make up a large proportion of HPAI cases in the Pacific Northwest, although migratory waterfowl are believed to be the main long-distance vector of the virus in wild birds. Wild waterfowl like ducks and geese contract and transmit HPAI, but are more resilient to the disease than raptors.
The H5H7 virus responsible for the 2022 wave of bird flu is only the latest in a series of variants that have affected mainly domestic bird populations since the 1980s. Like the virus that causes Covid-19, the bird flu virus is highly mutable, and continues to evolve new genetic variations that are more or less transmissible, and more or less deadly.
A wild bird infected with HPAI will quickly exhibit respiratory distress such as gasping, lethargy, disorientation, and possible discoloration (edema) of exposed skin (typically on legs). Death commonly results within 24 hours. The dead bird may be superficially plump, well feathered and healthy, with no obvious wounds or injuries.
HPAI is not the same as salmonellosis, caused by bacteria spread through wild songbirds’ saliva and feces, for example at crowded bird feeders. There have been a dozen reports of salmonellosis, mostly in Pine Siskins, in the San Juan Islands over the past year, but far more in urban areas where more birds depend on humans to provide them with food. Birds afflicted with salmonellosis fluff up, grow lethargic, and most die. However, salmonella does not ordinarily affect raptors, waterfowl, or domestic poultry.
Avian flu strains very rarely affect humans in contact with infected birds. Nonetheless, if you find a dead wild bird with no obvious physical cause of death, please don’t handle the bird. Contact Kwiaht at [email protected] so that we can examine it and take samples if necessary.
If you think you may have a case of HPAI among your backyard chickens or ducks, please contact Dr. Amber Itle at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, [email protected], who is coordinating the state’s response to HPAI’s impacts on domestic flocks.
Songbirds are currently considered to be at low risk for HPAI.
Nearly 2,000 cases in wild birds have been documented nationwide since January, mainly on the East Coast and Great Lakes, but almost every state has been affected. There have been 45 reported cases in Washington State so far. By comparison, HPAI has killed an estimated 17 million chickens and other domestic fowl in the United States this year, according to USDA.
Raptors make up a large proportion of HPAI cases in the Pacific Northwest, although migratory waterfowl are believed to be the main long-distance vector of the virus in wild birds. Wild waterfowl like ducks and geese contract and transmit HPAI, but are more resilient to the disease than raptors.
The H5H7 virus responsible for the 2022 wave of bird flu is only the latest in a series of variants that have affected mainly domestic bird populations since the 1980s. Like the virus that causes Covid-19, the bird flu virus is highly mutable, and continues to evolve new genetic variations that are more or less transmissible, and more or less deadly.
A wild bird infected with HPAI will quickly exhibit respiratory distress such as gasping, lethargy, disorientation, and possible discoloration (edema) of exposed skin (typically on legs). Death commonly results within 24 hours. The dead bird may be superficially plump, well feathered and healthy, with no obvious wounds or injuries.
HPAI is not the same as salmonellosis, caused by bacteria spread through wild songbirds’ saliva and feces, for example at crowded bird feeders. There have been a dozen reports of salmonellosis, mostly in Pine Siskins, in the San Juan Islands over the past year, but far more in urban areas where more birds depend on humans to provide them with food. Birds afflicted with salmonellosis fluff up, grow lethargic, and most die. However, salmonella does not ordinarily affect raptors, waterfowl, or domestic poultry.
Avian flu strains very rarely affect humans in contact with infected birds. Nonetheless, if you find a dead wild bird with no obvious physical cause of death, please don’t handle the bird. Contact Kwiaht at [email protected] so that we can examine it and take samples if necessary.
If you think you may have a case of HPAI among your backyard chickens or ducks, please contact Dr. Amber Itle at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, [email protected], who is coordinating the state’s response to HPAI’s impacts on domestic flocks.

Owls are among the suspected victims of HPAI in the San Juan Islands (photo: Ed Andrews).