We had an amazing year with the Lopez Island Conservation Corps (LICC).

The LICC did a lot of trail work and weed eradication this year. But we couldn’t have done this without the help of everyone who supported us. I would first like to give a special thanks to the Lopez Senior Center for their amazing contribution of supplying the LICC with transportation this summer. The Thrift Shop has also given a generous donation to our cause. I would especially like to thank everyone who sacrificed their time, and their backs, to bettering Lopez Island with the LICC.

This year, we had 46 people contribute to our trail work! We worked with San Juan County Parks, San Juan County Land Bank, Keepers of the Patos Light, Boys Scout Troop 4094, American Hiker’s Society, Friends of Hummel Lake, the Gruewald Family, the Willoughby Family, Brittney Drugor, Charlie Moor and Connie Holtz. With all of these people and the help of several organizations we were able to get a lot done.

We made a half-mile of trail on Jones Island and maintained a total of three miles of trail at Point Colville, Chadwick Marsh, Chadwick Hill, Patos Island and Shark Reef. We did a four-mile road clean-up from the ferry landing to Lopez Island Village, a 1200-ft beach clean-up at Watmough Bay, 24 acres of thistle eradication at Watmough Bay and Iceberg Point and 12 acres of Tansy Ragwort eradication at Upright Head.

We are proud of our work and I personally cannot believe how much was accomplished. I hope the LICC will grow and achieve more and more every year. Anyone can join us or contribute. Just e-mail supportlicc@gmail.com or Josh Cook at aneaglescout@gmail.com. Together we can keep Lopez the jewel of the San Juans.

This year’s LICC youth members were: Alex Cook, Joshua Cook (Youth Leader), Tristan Hudson-Damm, Mollie Korhing, Catalina Korhing, Michael Lease, Teddy McCullough, and Ben Strom. Supervised by Nick Teague.