In 2021, the Mitlenatch Island Stewardship Team resumed a full season on the island in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty-five volunteers spent a week at a time caring for the island and its animals and plants. The consensus was that it was a good year for glaucous winged gulls. But the heat dome and summer-long drought brought special challenges to some wildlife with at least two juvenile Virginia rails succumbing. On the positive side, the invasive blackberry plants seemed to be suffering. Volunteers watched as a pair of bald eagles returned week after week to pick off gulls. A common issue was concern about commercial and private boaters getting too close to the sea lions on the rocks outside Camp Bay. Many called for action such as enforcement and signage warning boaters to stay 100 meters from the sea lions. But would this result in boaters coming in closer to read the sign?