Front Page Featured Items Archive | Puget Sound Institute

January 22, 2026

Testimony in legislative committees focuses on when a toxic tire chemical should be banned

While not exactly a chicken-or-egg debate, when it comes to regulating a deadly tire chemical, Washington state lawmakers are being called upon to decide what comes first in the effort to save salmon. In public hearings this week, speakers were clearly divided in their views on companion bills in the House and Senate to ban […]

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January 13, 2026

Washington lawmakers to decide whether to ban a tire chemical shown to be toxic to salmon

A new bill introduced to the Washington Legislature, now in session, would require tire manufacturers to reformulate the rubber in their tires to remove a chemical responsible for killing large numbers of coho salmon and other fish. If approved, the legislation would give tire manufacturers nine years to find a suitable replacement for the compound […]

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December 30, 2025

Cougar in tree. Photo courtesy of National Park Service.

Where mountain lions and people do or do not mix

Today, we look inland at our mountains and forests where top predators like cougars remind us that nature is still wild and — often — unpredictable. PSI staff writer Eric Wagner has this look at a new paper with insights into when, where and why cougars may be more likely to cross paths with humans […]

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December 17, 2025

Kayaker on beach with inset photo of seabird in flight over water.

Looking back on a year of Puget Sound surprises: rare birds, gray whales, water

The year 2025 has been fairly mystifying to experts who make their living studying natural systems in the Puget Sound region. Unusual observations this year include record-low dissolved oxygen levels, unexpected gray whale visitations, and the sudden arrival of an astounding number of short-tailed shearwaters — a seabird almost never seen in Puget Sound. Cold […]

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October 27, 2025

Experts expect the recent arrival of chum salmon to bring orcas back to Puget Sound

UPDATE: Monday, Nov. 3 Whales return to Central Puget Sound without youngest calf All three pods of southern resident killer whales traveled into Central Puget Sound Sunday, making it as far south as the southern end of Vashon Island, if not farther. The past few days, various whales have been spotted in the San Juan […]

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October 1, 2025

What is driving ongoing contamination in Commencement Bay?

Despite more than four decades of a Superfund cleanup along Tacoma’s industrial Tideflats, research suggests that large amounts of toxic chemicals like PCBs and PBDEs may still be entering the waterway. Our affiliates at the Center for Urban Waters are co-leading a new project to identify contaminant hotspots. When it was first designated in 1983, […]

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July 30, 2025

Collected in Partnership with The Whale Museum and Cascadia Research Collective, NOAA Permit #24359

Around the Sound: Juvenile humpback whale ‘stronger and energetic’ after recent rescue

A juvenile humpback whale entangled in more than 200 feet of rope and then freed earlier this month has been spotted off Galiano Island in British Columbia, prompting cautious relief among biologists who are monitoring the whale’s recovery. The whale, named Starry Knight, was seen by whale watchers last Friday, and was breaching and appeared […]

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July 17, 2025

Annual orca count grows by one, as the Puget Sound whales stay on the hunt for food

Although an official census report is not due until October, it appears that the population of our southern resident killer whales has increased by one over the past year. That slight increase is the net result of four births and three deaths, according to the Center for Whale Research, which is responsible for the annual […]

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July 7, 2025

A photographic tour of the entire Puget Sound shoreline by watercraft and aircraft

Kayaker-scientist Brian Footen is back on the waters of Puget Sound this summer, paddling through inlets and circling islands on a 2,700-mile journey to photograph the shoreline and document natural and human-caused changes to the habitat. This state-funded project is Brian’s second photographic trip along the sinuous shoreline throughout the entirety of the Sound, from […]

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June 23, 2025

The debate over oxygen in Puget Sound

A draft nutrient reduction plan from the Washington Department of Ecology is out for public review. Now, many new developments — technical, scientific and legal — are reaching a critical stage and setting up a framework to make some major decisions. This four-part series in Our Water Ways looks back on how we have reached our present condition, including a consideration of possible solutions.

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