- Cattle Point Natural Resources Conservation Area (dnr.wa.gov)
Cattle Point Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA) consists of two waterfront parcels at the south end of San Juan Island. At only 112 acres, the NRCA provides a diverse range of geologic features, plant communities and wildlife habitat. The largest portion of the NRCA extends across the tip of the island from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, over the Mount Finlayson ridge and into Griffin Bay. A second parcel bookends the U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse and includes an interpretive center in an historic building. Adjacent to the western edge of the conservation area is the San Juan Island National Historical Park “American Camp” unit. At Cattle Point NRCA, visitors will find grasslands, gravelly beach, dunes, a mature conifer forest and steep bluffs.
- Onyx (Wikipedia)
Onyx is the parallel-banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands. Onyx has parallel bands, while agate has curved bands. The colors of its bands range from black to almost every color. Specimens of onyx commonly contain bands of black or white or both. Onyx, as a descriptive term, has also been applied to parallel-banded varieties of alabaster, marble, calcite, obsidian, and opal, and misleadingly to materials with contorted banding, such as “cave onyx” and “Mexican onyx”.