Smith and Minor Islands Aquatic Reserve

Washington DNR designated Smith and Minor Islands Aquatic Reserve in 2010. The reserve covers 36,308 acres of state-owned aquatic land from the Whidbey Island shoreline west around Smith and Minor Islands. DNR calls it the largest reserve in its system and says the waters west of Smith Island hold the largest bull kelp bed in Washington.

Bull kelp here is an annual plant that can grow up to 40 feet in a single season. DNR says the layered canopy shelters tiny shrimp and young rockfish. Winter storms tear kelp ashore; a new generation grows the next spring. Smith and Minor Islands lie about five miles off western Whidbey and are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge. To protect nesting seabirds and marine mammals, the islands are closed year-round and visitors must stay 200 yards from shore.

DNR lists tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, glaucous-winged gulls, double-crested cormorants, and pigeon guillemots among the nesting birds, and harbor seals, elephant seals, and Stellar sea lions on the beaches and sand bars. This pin is Smith Island. The source below is the Washington Department of Natural Resources reserve page.