Last month brought some important conservation news for the greater Puget Sound watershed. On March 25th, President Obama formally announced the establishment of the San Juan Islands National Monument, creating additional protection for almost 1000 acres of undeveloped federal land in the San Juan archipelago.

View from the San Juan Islands. Photo: Bureau of Land Management

“These islands form an unmatched landscape of contrasts,” reads the proclamation. The president further called the San Juans “a refuge of scientific and historic treasures and a classroom for generations of Americans.” (Read the full proclamation.)

Here is a detailed map of federally managed lands in the San Juans. You might also be interested in an article in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound about relic gardens on some of these small, protected islands: http://www.eopugetsound.org/articles/relic-gardens-camas-san-juan-islands.