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Tucked along the shoreline of Commencement Bay, the Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of dozens of wastewater treatment plants that discharge directly into Puget Sound. It serves more than 320,000 people — roughly a third of Pierce County’s population — in an area that includes Tacoma, Lakewood, University Place, and surrounding communities, processing […]

The past, present and future of natural conditions in the United States are described in a new report, which has traveled a bumpy road to its current draft form, now out for public review and comment. “The Nature Record,” originally titled the “National Nature Assessment,” was launched in 2022 as a government project — the […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]