Category: In the news

PSI in the news: ‘Salmon on Prozac’ and more

The Brightwater Treatment Plant in King County. Image courtesy of King County.
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PSI’s Andy James is collaborating with scientists at NOAA and Washington State University to understand how wastewater affects juvenile salmon in Puget Sound. The study is led by Jim Meador of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Sciences Center and focuses on discharge from three major sewage treatment plants in King County. Wastewater will be analyzed at the University of Washington Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters for chemical signatures of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and PCBs. The study was featured this week in the publication Crosscut. “The scope of chemicals monitored in this […]

Kolodziej, Peter Featured in SIFF Documentary on Seattle’s Thornton Creek

A still from Engineering With Nature. Associate Professor Ed Kolodziej, at right, is interviewed by Katherine Lynch of Seattle Public Utilities.
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A new documentary featuring PSI collaborators Ed Kolodziej and Kathy Peter was selected to premiere at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) on Saturday, June 8. The 70-minute documentary, “Engineering with Nature – An Ode to Water, Wood, and Stone” was directed by environmental filmmaker Shelly Solomon and is distributed through Leaping Frog Films. It describes a four-year effort by Seattle Public Utilities to restore Thornton Creek, Seattle’s largest and most urbanized stream with 18 miles of waterway and a 12-square-mile watershed. The once-polluted and neglected creek is becoming […]

Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts

A school of herring.Jacob Bøtter/Flickr
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Puget Sound Institute lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis was quoted in a recent article in UW News. From UWT News Service: “Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts,” by Michelle Ma, UW News, May 29, 2019, http://www.washington.edu/news/2019/05/29/young-herring-go-with-the-older-fish-a-key-finding-in-ocean-modeling-forums-efforts/. Tessa Francis is both the lead ecosystem ecologist at the Puget Sound Institute, housed at UW Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters, and the managing director of the Ocean Modeling Forum (OMF), a science-collaboration group led by UW. She is quoted in this story about new […]

Shoreline armoring is “death by a thousand cuts” for ecosystem

An excavator removes shoreline armoring in Puget Sound. Photo by Doris Small, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Puget Sound Institute research scientist Aimee Kinney was quoted in a January 25th story on KUOW radio about the removal of shoreline armoring in Puget Sound. The story focuses on recent progress by the state to remove widespread seawalls and bulkheads that harm salmon and alter the ecological balance of the shoreline. Kinney has been part of an EPA-funded team developing a comprehensive strategy to reduce armoring in the region. Much of Puget Sound’s artificially hardened shoreline occurs on privately held land and the team is working to improve enforcement of permits and […]

PSI research on opioids in mussels receives international coverage

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Our May 9th report on the discovery of opioids in Puget Sound mussels continues to be picked up by many national and international news organizations. The research was conducted by PSI’s Andy James in collaboration with scientists at the Puget Sound Mussel Monitoring Program at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Traces of oxycodone were found in transplanted mussels used for monitoring water quality in Puget Sound. The mussels were located in urban bays already considered to be polluted and were not collected near commercial shellfish operations. Scientists say […]

The perils of holiday glitter

“All That Glitter? It’s Not Good, Critics Say” Photo courtesy of New York Times.
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By Jeff Rice, Puget Sound Institute You might want to think twice before adding that extra bit of sparkle this holiday season. A growing number of environmental activists and scientists are saying it’s time to hold the glitter. PSI Director Joel Baker is quoted this week in The New York Times on the connection between glitter and harmful microplastics. Some groups, including most recently a chain of child care centers in Britain, are proposing a ban on the shimmery plastic saying it can be easily consumed, causing unknown health effects. But […]

PSI study links happiness to interactions with nature

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Can nature make you happy? Science weighs in. A recent study by PSI social scientist Kelly Biedenweg found that Puget Sound residents reported being happier when they engaged with the natural environment. “We (in the Pacific Northwest) are pretty much the leaders in trying to understand how happiness and integration with the environment relate to each other,” Biedenweg told The News Tribune, which featured the study in its April 7th edition. Biedenweg has been working with the state of Washington to identify indicators of human well-being such as happiness, physical and psychological health and economic prosperity […]

Where does Seattle coffee go after it’s poured down the drain?

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PSI’s Director Joel Baker was quoted in a story by KIRO News on how caffeine and other chemicals like Prozac find their way into Puget Sound. “Scientists like Dr. Baker say caffeine levels in our waters have not reached a crisis level,” KIRO reports, “but the studies point out why in the future, technology must be enhanced to remove it, along with more harmful chemicals humans ingest and flush, from making generational impacts on our environment.” Read the full article.

Study of seals and sea lions gains interest

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Our story last week about the impacts of predators on Chinook salmon populations in Puget Sound continues to gather strong interest from our readers. Several thousand viewed it after it came out last Thursday, and it was reprinted in the Kitsap Sun on Monday. The story was written by PSI senior writer Christopher Dunagan and reports on a new study showing that area seals and sea lions are eating a much higher amount of threatened Chinook than previously known. Many questions still remain, but it is the first time that a peer-reviewed […]

UW scientists unsure of federal funds in Trump era

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PSI’s Director Joel Baker was quoted in The Seattle Times this week in a story about uncertainties for EPA funding. Read the full article.

Study of eelgrass shows populations steady across Puget Sound

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Although eelgrass populations have declined in some parts of Puget Sound, overall numbers for the aquatic plant have remained steady ecosystem-wide, according to an analysis of 41 years of data from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The study, published in the Journal of Ecology, was co-authored by Puget Sound Institute lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis and was aided by a team of University of Washington student assistants who sorted through more than 160,000 notebook entries to parse out survey findings. The data comes from long-time surveys of Pacific Herring, which also […]

CUW scientists among first to receive Amazon Catalyst grants

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Center for Urban Waters engineers are among the first to receive a University of Washington Amazon Catalyst Grant. Dr. Andy James (also a member of the Puget Sound Institute) and Alex Gipe received $50,000 from Amazon to improve a process to remove phosphorous from stormwater pollution. Phosphorous can cause increased algal growth in lakes and ponds which in turn can poison fish and other species. The Center for Urban Waters is the Puget Sound Institute parent organization and is affiliated with the University of Washington Tacoma. The Amazon Catalyst program began in 2015 […]