Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership
Program Overview
We envision a healthy Puget Sound that is full of life, including
orcas, great blue herons, native shellfish, salmon, and eelgrass
meadows. We see an inland sea that continues to be a valuable
regional asset, providing commercial and recreational fish
and shellfish harvests, supporting commercial and recreational
boating and shipping, and providing a wonderful place for
both wildlife and people to live.
Nearshore ecosystems are essential to a healthy Puget Sound.
These areas provide important habitat for fish and wildlife
and support a complex food web. But, mounting evidence suggests
that Puget Sound is an ecosystem in peril: there are 40 threatened,
endangered or candidate species, nearly 6,000 acres of contaminated
sediments, and a dead zone in Hood Canal. Over 70% of tidal
marshes have been diked, 800 miles or over 33% of shorelines
armored, 30,000 acres of commercial shellfish beds closed,
and over 1,000 new residents move to the area every week.
Money for recovery is limited and our extraordinary natural
heritage is at risk.
Many people are working to address water quality, growth
management, cleanup of toxic materials, and restoration of
watersheds.
However, there is no coordinated effort to restore critical
nearshore ecosystems and the natural processes that support
them. Recognizing this need, concerned citizens, nonprofit
organizations, ports, and others have partnered with local,
state, tribal, and federal governments to form the Puget Sound
Nearshore Partnership. The mission of the Nearshore Partnership
is to restore and protect the nearshore habitat of Puget Sound
for the benefit of the biological resources and the integrity
of the ecosystem, including the functions and natural processes
of the basin. The Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration
Project (PSNERP) is a cost-shared General Investigation study
(GI) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife. Other state and local governments
and agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations are
also contributing to WDFW’s “local sponsor”
cost-share. The goals of the GI study are to identify nearshore
ecosystem problems, evaluate potential solutions, and restore,
protect and preserve critical nearshore habitat. It is anticipated
that the study will ultimately result in a Puget Sound ecosystem
restoration authority and significant federal funding for
its implementation by the Corps of Engineers. As progress
on completing the study continues, there exists substantial
interest in and support for on-going activities intended to
advance our understanding, and ultimately, the health of the
Puget Sound nearshore that are beyond the original focus and
scope of the GI Study. The Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership
was formed to advance complimentary efforts including early
action restoration projects, information transfer, and scientific
studies. The Nearshore Partnership diversifies support for
PSNERP while providing a forum for issues beyond those of
PSNERP. For more information on PSNERP and the Nearshore Partnership,
please see our website at: www.pugetsoundnearshore.org
The mission of the Nearshore Partnership is to restore and
protect the nearshore habitat of Puget Sound for the benefit
of the biological resources and the integrity of the ecosystem,
including the functions and natural processes of the basin.
The project is designed to protect and restore the ecosystem
that supports fish and wildlife and aesthetic values important
to people living in the Puget Sound region. The explicit goals
of the Nearshore Partnership are to identify, fund and undertake
construction projects that will restore ecosystem health.
Toward this end, the project has several elements:
Scientific understanding Scientists in the region are collaborating
to improve our scientific understanding of the natural processes
that control and support the nearshore ecosystem, and of the
management practices that are needed to protect and restore
the Sound.
Data collection and organization:
The Nearshore Partnership is collecting and organizing
technical information to maximize the effectiveness of nearshore
restoration and protection projects being undertaken now
and in the near future, and to determine if particular recovery
techniques are appropriate for “scaling up”
around the Sound.
Action:
Based on this scientific work, a strategic portfolio of
projects is being developed for action that will ensure
a healthy nearshore ecosystem well into the future, so that
our vision of a Sound with whales and seals, fish, shellfish,
birds, and people, can be realized
and sustained.
Nearshore:
The estuarine delta/ marine shoreline and areas of shallow
water from the top of the coastal bank or bluffs to the
water at a depth of about 10 meters relative to Mean Lower
Low Water and people, can be realized and sustained.
The mission of the Nearshore
Partnership is to restore and protect
the nearshore habitat of Puget Sound for the benefit of
the biological resources
and the integrity of the ecosystem, including the functions
and natural processes of the basin.
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