Puget Sound Partnership

The truth of natural resource management can be summed up in a single phrase: Everything is connected. See the dots, make the connections and you can see the whole.

Some important dots got connected recently when Governor Chris Gregoire signed the Puget Sound Partnership into law – on the same day Bob Lohn of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the listing of Puget Sound steelhead as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

For decades, wild Puget Sound steelhead have been doing poorly. In the late 1980s, there was a sharp naturally-occurring dip coastwide in steelhead populations. While Pacific coastal steelhead gradually rebounded to today’s healthy levels, Puget Sound steelhead did not. Their struggle is a direct reflection of Puget Sound’s health and it is directly tied to the climb in the region’s human population.

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OLYMPIA (May 17, 2006)  What you don't see can't hurt you. Right? Everyone who lives in the Puget Sound region enjoys the beauty of the mighty estuary. People see the glimmering water, bordered by snow peaked mountains and bright city lights, and they think all is well with Puget Sound. Unfortunately, they're wrong. What they don't see in Puget Sound can hurt them. Whoever they are and whatever they do for a living, their quality of life and the economic well being of the region are connected to the health of Puget Sound.