Golden paintbrush, a showy yellow wildflower, once thrived throughout coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest, including here in the San Juan Islands. By the 1990s, however, the plant faced extinction due to habitat loss. Thanks to restoration efforts, many mainland populations have bounced back—but in the San Juans, the golden beauty remains in precipitous decline. One ray of hope glows from the thriving plantings at the Salish Seeds Project nursery at Red Mill Farm Preserve.
