Encyclopedia of Puget Sound Homepage

Local Integrating Organizations (LIOs) are local forums that bring people together to protect and restore the ecosystem through locally specific strategies and actions. LIOs provide a venue for stakeholders and partners to identify and develop locally driven recovery strategies.

The Puget Sound Science Update represents the state‐of‐the‐science supporting the work of the Puget Sound Partnership to restore and protect the Puget Sound ecosystem. The content of the Puget Sound Science Update was developed following a process modeled after the rigorous peer‐review process used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Almost 200 gray whales have washed up dead along the West Coast in 2026. A small group of gray whales who feed in Puget Sound is surprisingly central to understanding the crisis.

Water circulation in Puget Sound is important for flushing out nutrients and affects dissolved oxygen. This overview describes Puget Sound's two-layer circulation process where fresher surface water flows out to sea while saltier ocean water flows in along the bottom. Dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound basins varies by location and season, and is

A state plan calls for reductions in nutrients across 163 distinct watersheds in Puget Sound, including non-point-source pollution. Agencies and restoration practitioners are looking at ways to measure the problem and hope to work with a broad slew of landowners and other partners to help control it. This article is part of an occasional series on

A proposed amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act has renewed a debate over the merits of killing seals and sea lions to protect salmon. Proponents say it will help some endangered salmon populations while opponents say the legislation is misguided and likely to be counterproductive.