[Previous entry: "Orcas Awards Banquet For 2009"] [Next entry: "SJI In New York Times? Twice. Huh?"]

02/07/2010: "The State Of The Sound -And SJC Waters"

The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) has issued its first State of the Sound report noting the current condition of Puget Sound, funding allocated to clean up efforts, and accomplishments and challenges in the effort to clean up the Sound for the 2007-2009 biennium.

An announcement on the publishing of the report states because the “Puget Sound ecosystem is complex, it is not surprising that some parts of it may improve while others decline.”

David Dicks ( Photo left above, a lawyer and son of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks) is the executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, is quoted as stating ”The good news is we are making progress in our efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound. We have challenges ahead to meet our goal of achieving a clean Sound by 2020, but this report documents substantial improvements in the ecosystem.”


San Juan County waters have been called “pristine” by the Department of Ecology -a finding repeated again recently by a local PSP spokesperson in response to questions from the CSA ( Common Sense Alliance ) on the need of large buffers in San Juan County. However, the report takes notes that while there has been a loss of eel grass, “an overall pattern of slight decline has been detected since monitoring began in 2000, one of the two “regions of greatest concern for eelgrass” is SJC.
losses are Hood Canal, and the San Juans.

But were looking good for the retention of undeveloped land : “the San Juan / Whatcom Action Area had 13 % agricultural land compared to at most 4 % for the other Areas. It is important to note that four of the seven Action Areas have 18 to 29 % conversion into developed land and agricultural land since pre‐settlement”.

But there is another “however” in the report on the changes in land cover: “However, the San Juan and Hood Canal Action Areas had greater increases in impervious surface than development. This suggests that open/natural areas within existing developed land experienced further development into impervious surfaces, possibly within UGAs.”

The report evaluates status indicators that represent each of the six goals in the Partnership's authorizing statute: human health, human well-being, species and food webs, habitats, water quantity, and water quality.