Puget Sound ecosystem holding on, but recovery remains uncertain, says latest status report

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Efforts to restore ecological health to Puget Sound have largely failed to meet recovery goals, yet fish and wildlife populations are still hanging on, according to a new report that describes many struggling populations as neither increasing nor decreasing to a significant extent. The latest State of the Sound report, released last week by the Puget Sound Partnership, reveals the ongoing difficulty of recovering the Puget Sound ecosystem in the face of rapid population growth, climate change and a legacy of pollution and habitat damage. Yet the report, produced every […]

PUGET SOS brings new funding and a federal makeover

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Recently passed federal legislation has increased funding to protect Puget Sound while also changing the way ecosystem recovery efforts are organized. The legislation includes key provisions of the PUGET SOS Act and establishes a national office for Puget Sound recovery based at the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle. The end of 2022 marked a seismic shift for Puget Sound recovery efforts. Over the course of less than a week in late December, two landmark pieces of legislation were signed and enacted by President Biden. One of them, known informally as […]

Governor Inslee appoints Dennis McLerran as chair of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council

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This is a reprint of a press release from the Puget Sound Partnership. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 10, 2022 MEDIA CONTACT: Kevin Hyde, 360.819.3045, kevin.hyde@psp.wa.gov OLYMPIA — Governor Jay Inslee has appointed Dennis McLerran as chair of the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council, the governing body of the Puget Sound Partnership. McLerran has served as the vice chair of the Leadership Council since December 2021. Jay Manning, chair of the Leadership Council since December 2016, has stepped down from the Leadership Council. “Dennis’s decades of environmental leadership will help bring together the […]

New Puget Sound Action Agenda will include revised ‘targets’ to express recovery goals

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UPDATE, TUESDAY, MAY 17 / WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 Environmental review has been completed for the draft 2022-2026 Puget Sound Action Agenda, and the Puget Sound Partnership announced a public comment period for the SEPA checklist (PDF 818 kb) and determination of nonsignificance (PDF 134 kb), as required by the State Environmental Policy Act. Comments will be taken until May 30, as described in the DNS. Also, the revised Vital Signs and their indicators are described by the Puget Sound Partnership in a May 18 news release. —– As the Puget […]