Susan Vernon is a naturalist and nature writer who has lived in the San Juan Islands of Washington State for over thirty years as the executive director of a. small natural history museum, co-founder of the San Juan Nature Institute, land steward, interpretive specialist, and consulting naturalist for several government agencies and the San Juan Preservation Trust. She conducted surveys for the endangered island marble butterfly for over fifteen years and developed the first captive rearing protocol for the subspecies. Her column San Juan Nature Notebook appeared for many years in the local press.