In the San Juan Islands, local nonprofit Kwiáht helps tend ecosystem balance

written by Daniel O’Neil

To the untrained eye, the San Juan Islands, so forested and grassy and relatively untouched, look pristine. Dig a bit into the history, though—by visiting a 150-year-old orchard, or the remnants of a camas garden even older than that—and it becomes clear that these islands are home to many layers of history, of culture, of flora and fauna.

Tending this living place of history is no easy task. So in 2006, the late Samish tribal leader and environmental activist Kenneth Hansen founded Kwiáht, a nonprofit conservation biology laboratory in and for the San Juan Islands. Hansen, whose Coast Salish family hailed from these islands, wanted to see all people, tribal and non-tribal, taking responsibility for the islands’ well-being.

The word Kwiáht comes from the language of the central Puget Sound and means “a place that has been kept physically clean and spiritually healthy.” The root of the word, however, signifies “struggle,” so, “a place you have to work really hard for.” As a center for the historical ecology of the Salish Sea, Kwiáht does just that.

By combining traditional Western scientific methodology with Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and place-based values, Kwiáht conducts scientific research to best serve the islands’ cultural and biological resources. Rather than stop there, Kwiáht then shares its findings with the local community through education and by involving students and volunteer “citizen scientists” in the process. The results then help inform how to restore and preserve a natural San Juan Islands landscape and seascape for the benefit of local people, plants and wildlife.

“I think this is incredibly cool that we can recreate the culture of gardening the landscape and taking care intensely, being invested in which plants you put in and where you put them, how you take care of them,” said Kwiáht’s director, Russel Barsh. “We see this as a garden landscape, which it was for thousands of years, and we tell people that it’s going to be a lot of hard work. You’re going to have to get on your hands and knees, and native plants will need to be put in one by one. There’s no simple solution.”

Kwiáht botanist Madrona Murphy is a lifelong islander who appreciates the many layers of habitancy and cultivation that form today’s San Juan Islands. “The landscape we’re trying to restore is in fact a cultural artifact,” she said. “It’s a landscape that developed with humans. And if you start putting more effort into it, you have to commit to keep doing that and keep working with it. That’s what creates the diversity.”

Kwiáht’s achievements range far and wide, including every nook and cranny of the San Juan Islands National Monument. “The volunteers and employees at Kwiáht have deep local knowledge that allows them to reach even the most remote sites, no small feat given the challenges of ferry schedules, boat charters, tides, weather and coordinating staff,” said San Juan Islands National Monument Manager Brie Chartier. “They bring critical scientific expertise, with staff trained to identify native and invasive plants within the monument. And just as importantly, they have the administrative skill to manage federal grants and assistance agreements, an often overlooked but essential part of making this work possible.”

In the eyes of Kwiáht, such attached involvement in the San Juan Islands benefits every living thing and every rocky shore that coalesces to create this extraordinary place. “We see people and plants and wildlife as all part of the same thing,” Barsh said. “And by helping nature, we’re helping people, whether they know it or not.”