Island Drives

Meet Islanders with San Juan Islands License Plates

What is your favorite Island drive?

Sarah Severn, San Juan Island

I drive my car over to Sweet Water Farm Akhal Teke 4-5 days a week to ride my horse. Amrita Ibold breeds Akhal Tekes , a rare breed that originated in Turkmenistan and is gaining popularity in the United States.  

This is actually my second special license plate as I had a personalized plate for my Electric Smart, which sadly is no longer functional, but I’m very happy with the Chevy Bolt, and it’s good to know that my forays to the barn and back are zero emission.


Do you have stories of your favorite jaunts
in the islands with your
San Juan Islands Special License Plate?

At the 2022 San Juan County Fair, the crew of the Madrona Institute offered the opportunity to fair attendees to share their favorite island drives, with the goal of informing people about the San Juan Island Special License Plate.

Share your stories and images of your car with your San Juan Islands License Plate with us in a few different ways:

More about the San Juan Islands
Special License Plate

The Madrona Institute has awarded $22,500 to local organizations in its first year of grantmaking based on revenues received from sales of the San Juan Islands Special License Plate.

You can sign up online to get registered for this beautiful license plate featuring San Juan Island Artist Nancy Spaulding’s painting, Evening Passage

Save money when renewing your tabs early and getting new specialty plates 

Find out more at: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/spsanjuan.html 

If your tabs expire in 6 months or less, you can save money by getting your new plates and tabs at the same time. By renewing early, you won't have to pay the following plate renewal fees the first year, and $28 goes to support Madrona Institute grants: 

●  $30 for specialty plates

●  $42 for personalized plates


Share your Favorite Island Drives
and tag us on Facebook!

#MadronaInstitute

@madronainstitute

#sjilicenseplate

#StewardshipNetwork

@stewardshipsji

 

How are the Grants Awarded?

Recent recipients include the San Juan Islands Conservation District for their San Juan Islands Youth Conservation Corps ($6,000); the Friends of the San Juans for their Youth Environmental Mentoring Program ($5,000); the Alchemy Art Center for their Young Environmentalists Art Intensive & Exhibit Program ($5,000); the Coast Salish Youth Stewardship Corps operated by The Madrona Institute ($4,000); and the Indigenous Education Institute for their Indigenous Speaker Series–A Sense of Place in the Pacific Northwest: Indigenous Perspectives on Land, Water, and Sky ($2,500). 

Alchemy Art Center for their Young Environmentalists Art Intensive & Exhibit Program

Awards are made on an annual basis for local projects and programs that support the conservation and stewardship of agricultural, cultural, historic, and natural resources in the islands, with emphasis on youth engagement. It is expected that grantmaking will increase each year as plate sales increase across the county, region, and state. 

Purchasing a San Juan Islands Special License Plate is a great way to support stewardship in the San Juan Islands.

Washington State Poet Laureate
and Lummi Tribal Member, Rena Priest

The grant monies greatly benefited the Indigenous Education Institute this year. It covered much of

the expenses for our Pacific Northwest Speaker Series: A Sense of Place - Indigenous Perspectives

of Earth, Water and Sky. We we able to bring in Washington Poet Laureate Rena Priest, a Lummi

tribal member, for an outstanding presentation, via zoom. More than 450 participants joined in the

presentation and following discussion. The chat room was really buzzing with excited conversations

among scientists, poets, San Juan County residents, teachers, professors and students. The

evaluation responses were 100% extremely positive.


Environmental Club Visits Yellow Island
and Brown Island to Clean Up!

The stewardship grant we received was critical for our work with Environmental Club students this

year. Because of this grant we were able to meet weekly with the Friday Harbor Eco Club, mentor

(11) students on a community action project, as well as one student from Spring Street International

School, and we were also able to offer stewardship trips to Yellow Island for Great Islands Clean Up

and to Brown Island for a beach restoration project that involved planting native dune grass. This

grant was important in enabling us to accomplish our mission of protecting and restoring the San

Juan Islands and the Salish Sea for people and nature by helping us to inspire youth stewards

through meaningful and hands-on experiences in the community. Friends of the San Juans staff was

able to mentor 12 students on community action projects that gave them the tools to take action, the

leadership skills to spread awareness and education, and connected them with other leaders in the

community and government officials. Friday Harbor Eco-Club students

Please share one memorable highlight on how the grant boosted stewardship,

youth opportunities, and/or climate action.


Final Art Show was a Highlight of the Program

It's difficult to pick out one specific highlight (there were so many!) but everything culminated in the

final art show. It was truly wonderful to see all of the work created during this 10-week session, and

what kids chose to focus on for their final projects. Some students expressed their feelings about

climate change in powerful images and messages that they screen printed onto apparel, others

focused on up-cycling items destined for the landfill into sculptures and decor, and others created an

"earth strata" planter out of recycled clay to showcase native mosses and plant life. And these are

just a few examples! By the end of this course, each student was more confident and expressive in

their concern for their world, and had developed many new tools for expressing their ideas. The final

show highlighted their achievements beautifully, and it was a joy to celebrate with them.


This program really changed the way the kids
look at the world and in particular their understanding

of local tribal communities in terms of
authentic Indigenous stewardship
and the value of Indigenous languages,

as key components
in understanding the world we live in.


This kind of sharing and understanding creates collaborations between the native and non-native world. It builds

awareness of the traditional Indigenous ways of stewardship and coping with environmental change. To me, the most

amazing thing was how Rena Priest was able to talk science in terms of poetry. This took the talk out of the "box" of

looking at science and enabled participants to understand science in terms that everyone could understand

and value. The participants who were scientists may have been moved the very most by her

presentation. Everyone wanted to hear more from her. This goes a long way into building community relationships.

One memorable highlight was when our Spring Street student took the initiative to present to a

middle school Climate Change class about her time in our Environmental Leadership Club. This was

especially memorable because it pushed this student outside her box and allowed her to step up into

a leadership role and spread the word to younger students the importance of stewardship and some

of the hands-on, local actions we can take to help combat large, global issues like Climate Change.

This was also a great recruitment strategy to get students involved in our mentorship program.


Shannon Borg

Hi I’m Shannon Borg, and I am an artist and art & business coach. I help artists master their business and transform their mindset so they can confidently share their unique gifts with the world. I also paint abstract landscapes of the shorelines of the San Juan Islands of Washington State, where I live. Let’s connect on Instagram! Find me @shannonborg.

http://shannonborg.com
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