Craig

Timber Harvest

Next time you’re visiting you may notice that our upland forest looks a little different. That’s because this winter we performed another thinning of our southern acreage. This was done in part to address several forest health related issues – laminated root rot and fire hazard among them.
Forest Stewardship
Thinning is also helping us to preserve this portion of the property – which we as a family are very excited about. Additionally, managing the property as a working forest has allowed us to rezone it as designated forest land (DFL). This helps to protect its status as an undeveloped property for the long term.

Forest History
Historically this has been the third significant harvest that the Gibson family has performed since purchasing the property in 1911, with our first harvest around about 1920. The last time the timber was harvested was in 1959 by our grandmother, Edna Gibson. Some of our long-time guests may remember the logging trails and landings from that harvest. These were evident for many years afterwards.

Prior to our family’s arrival, the property had been mostly clear cut in the mid to late 1800’s to fuel the local island lime kilns and to make way for the extensive apple orchards that once flourished here.

For a glimpse of what our forest and our harvesting methods looked like in years past, follow this link to the Orcas Island Heritage website:  Historical Photos

 
Forest Future
During the next several years you will notice a number of changes. For one, we will be replanting trees with disease resistant species. Especially in the areas that had the large groves of alder which were beginning to decline. Also, the much-improved lighting will encourage the regrowth of younger trees along with deer forage.

You may […]

At North Beach Inn we have the privilege of preserving a beautiful and natural corner of the world. To support this, throughout our family’s history on Orcas Island each subsequent generation has added new beach cabins. This approach has kept the property whole and largely undeveloped for over 100 years. It has also allowed us to continue sharing it with many new and returning guests.
In the Beginning

In 1911 our great uncle James Gibson left Seattle with his young daughter Virginia and followed his mentor and former employer, Robert Moran of Rosario Resort fame, to Orcas Island. He purchased this property, once part of a large apple orchard from the original homesteader. Uncle Jim’s dream was to retire from the “big city” and take up farming. Within a few years my great-grandparents, William and Mary Gibson, and their seven other adult children had followed Jim to the farm.

By the mid teens the family was operating the property as North Beach Farm. We offered home cooked meals and tent cabins under the apple trees and along the shoreline. When Jim passed away in the 20’s he left a business that was feeling the pressure from a depressed farming environment and a declining apple market. However my grandmother Edna and grandfather Ed committed to the keep the property intact. To avoid the typical route of selling off portions of the property until nothing was left, in the early 1930’s they decided to expand the business into a full-fledged resort by adding six new beach cabins and a dining lodge; in the process changing the name of the business to North Beach Inn.

Times were tough and my grandparents worked multiple jobs to keep the property in the family. Ed spent time as a ranger and CCC supervisor at Moran […]

One of the advantages of having 1/3 of a mile of beach and nearly 100 acres of fields and woodlands is that we get to see lots of wildlife, from black tailed deer, seals, otters, raccoons, to even an occasional pod of orcas. In addition, the north shore is frequented by many kinds of birds, both migratory and non-migratory: hawks, loons, gulls, kingfishers, waders. In early spring the Canadian geese return and delight us with their honking calls, and the swishing sound of their wings as they pass in formation overhead. Most of the year, we can watch bald eagles in their natural habitat. With the low spring tides, the eagles can often be seen hunting for fish, swooping low over the sandbar and resting in the fir trees along the shoreline. Here’s a photo of one we saw on the beach last spring.