San Juan Wilderness

The San Juan Wilderness now contains a total of 353 acres and is managed by the Fish & Wildlife Service's Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex. All of the Wilderness is in the state of Washington. In 1976 the San Juan Wilderness became part of the now over 110 million acre National Wilderness Preservation System.

The tips of submerged mountains collectively thrust above the sea where two straits--Georgia and Juan de Fuca--meet up with Puget Sound, forming the San Juan Islands. Of the 700 or so islands, islets, rocks, and reefs that make up the San Juan Islands, fewer than 200 have garnered official names. The large islands of San Juan, Lopez, Orcas, and Shaw make up more than 80 percent of the landmass.

Of the rest of the land, much of it wave-drenched, 83 pieces are included in the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary for gulls, cormorants, guillemots, puffins, brants, oystercatchers, auklets, bald eagles, and harbor seals.