San Juan Island is well known for its splendid vistas, saltwater shores, quiet woodlands, orca whales and one of the last remaining native prairies in the Puget Sound/Northern Straits region. But it was also here in 1859 that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over possession of the island, the crisis ignited by the death of a pig.
Laboratory tests conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey detected the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome (WNS) in three bats at San Juan Island National Historical Park. These bats are part of a Yuma Myotis (Myotis yumanensis) colony housed in a bat box located in English Camp. This is the first documented case of this fungus in San Juan County, Washington.