Transforming Puget Sound through partnership
How a network of passionate professionals is working to restore and reshape Puget Sound
When it comes to restoring and protecting Puget Sound for future generations of Washingtonians, it really does take a village.
This much was evident at Green River College this spring, when more than 200 restoration and conservation professionals representing dozens of organizations met to share updates on 52 projects actively underway to improve the health and ecosystems of Puget Sound.
All of these projects were funded fully or in part by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a partnership between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Puget Sound Geographic Program.
“We’re here because we share a common purpose: to restore and protect the habitats that sustain Puget Sound — its rivers, shorelines, forests, estuaries, kelp, and eelgrass and in doing so, to support thriving communities, cultures, and economies,” said Kelly Still, deputy director of divisions with WDFW’s Habitat Program, in her opening remarks. “This work sits at the heart of [WDFW]’s mission to preserve, protect, and perpetuate fish, wildlife, and ecosystems for current and future generations.”
WDFW and DNR were among those providing progress reports on funded projects, along with other state and local government agencies, tribes, regional fishery enhancement groups, conservation districts, and other non-governmental organizations.
The projects covered a wide range of different methods for either actively restoring or advancing the science of restoration in the Puget Sound region, which is home to more than half of Washington’s population at about 4.5 million people. As the region continues growing, the human impact on sensitive ecosystems also grows, requiring increasing intervention and education to protect forests, rivers, riparian areas, and the nearshore, as well as the marine environment and the fish and wildlife species that call them home.
“The work showcased during this event exemplifies the creative solutions and powerful partnerships at work in Puget Sound recovery” said Jennifer Griffiths, WDFW lead of the HSIL program. “The projects also highlight the important role of EPA Puget Sound Geographic Program funding that enables the planning, capacity, policy, and research necessary to work hand-in-hand with capital investments to achieve Puget Sound recovery.”
Efforts ranged from social marketing campaigns to help property owners better understand ways to steward habitat on their lands, to mapping and effectiveness evaluation to advance conservation through land-use planning throughout the region, and projects exploring ways to reduce hard armor on Puget Sound shorelines as well as evaluating the effectiveness of soft-shore alternatives.
Many projects at the summit focused on kelp and eelgrass protection and restoration, one of the focal points of a funding round in early 2024, and a key priority for the HSIL. One such project, an effort to understand how humans use and interact with kelp, is being led by Dr. David Trimbach, conservation social scientist with WDFW, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, DNR, Northwest Straits Commission, and Cascadia Consulting Group.
The purpose of the project is to address a major knowledge gap in kelp science, Trimbach said. “We’re really trying to identify and tease out the human dimensions of kelp in Puget Sound.”
That includes how humans are interacting with kelp, what members of the public and kelp harvesters are observing about kelp stressors over time, and better understand the role kelp plays in human health in Puget Sound, and vice versa. The collaborative social science project will help inform future management, conservation and harvesting opportunities.
While Trimbach’s work focuses on the human relationship with kelp, other grants are offering additional information about the state of kelp in Washington, as well as paths for conservation or restoration of marine vegetation. One effort, led by the Nearshore Habitat Program at DNR, is working to identify factors associated with the loss of floating kelp in Washington state.
“Just like trees in a terrestrial forest, bull kelp acts as a marine foundation species, which means in this case that it provides food and shelter for a diversity of other marine life,” said Aidan Cox, natural resource scientist with DNR’s Aquatic Resources division. “This includes everything from tiny invertebrates to forage fish…all the way up to salmon, rockfish, even humans have depended on the diversity of life in kelp forests since time immemorial.”
Cox and the multidisciplinary team from DNR, University of Washington, and University of Chicago are working to better understand why kelp has been resilient to loss in only some areas of Puget Sound and surrounding marine waters. They intensively studied 15 sites to examine the environmental conditions that may be impacting kelp beds, including things like water temperature, salinity, and nitrate concentrations, all of which influence kelp growth and survival. The project will also make recommendations for future strategic monitoring actions to further explore potential drivers of large-scale and localized patterns of floating kelp persistence and loss. Final reports from the project will be available in summer 2026, and will inform the statewide Kelp and Eelgrass Health and Conservation Plan.
This work comes with an increased public focus on kelp and other marine vegetation in Puget Sound, with April 16 officially celebrated as Bull Kelp Day in Washington state, and bull kelp forests recognized as the state’s official marine forest. HSIL also released the Marine Vegetation Implementation Strategy on April 28, to accelerate conservation and recovery of Puget Sound marine vegetation.
Trimbach’s and Cox’s presentations were just two of the dozens of projects represented at the spring summit — other presentations touched on a vast array of other vital signs and key priorities for habitat restoration and conservation efforts across Puget Sound.
The full summit, including panel discussions, lightning talks, and full presentations with question and answer sessions, were recorded and are available on the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead playlist on YouTube.
Additional information about all funded projects and future grant opportunities is available at the HSIL website.
