Letter from the Director:
Since 2010, the Puget Sound Institute has been helping scientists look at the big picture — and the big questions — for Puget Sound recovery. In this newsletter, we invite you to read about some of our contributions from the past year and to preview several exciting new projects that we’ll be working on in 2017.
Among the highlights are new findings on herring and eelgrass management, ways to prioritize emerging chemical contaminants, and ongoing collaborations with state and federal agencies to develop Puget Sound’s Implementation Strategies (see our featured story below). We've provided decision-makers with in-depth analysis of issues ranging from shoreline armoring to invasive species and we've published dozens of informative articles in our online magazine Salish Sea Currents.
There is not space here to list every accomplishment, but as we look back on 2016 we are reminded of one thing: We are privileged to work in a region with some of the finest scientists in the world. We look forward to a new year of collaborations and many new connections.
With best wishes,
Joel E. Baker, Ph.D.
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Featured story:
In the fall of 2016 our team began working closely with other scientists funded by the EPA to establish what are known as Implementation Strategies. These strategies will identify and apply solutions to improve Puget Sound’s overall Vital Signs, a series of indicators established by the Puget Sound Partnership to measure the region’s health. The goal: find the right treatments for an ailing ecosystem.
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Related article:
A “learn and adjust” strategy known as adaptive management plays a central role in state and federal Puget Sound recovery efforts. It is an approach that is gaining traction for ecosystem management worldwide. PSI's Nick Georgiadis provides an overview of the concept and how it is being applied locally.
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Grants and funding:
PSI’s Tessa Francis is co-leader of a joint US and Canadian team that has received funding to analyze threats to Pacific Herring in the Salish Sea. Funding of just over $89,000 was granted by the SeaDoc Society and will help the group develop a comprehensive Salish Sea herring conservation and management plan. Francis teams up with project co-leader Dayv Lowry of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Additional collaborators include USGS, NOAA, Oregon State University, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Lummi Tribe, the Cowichan Tribe, The Nature Conservancy, and Q’ul-lhanumutsun Aquatic Resources Society.
Center for Urban Waters engineers are among the first to receive a University of Washington Amazon Catalyst Grant. Dr. Andy James (also a member of the Puget Sound Institute) and Alex Gipe received $50,000 from Amazon to improve a process to remove phosphorous from stormwater pollution. Phosphorous can cause increased algal growth in lakes and ponds which in turn can poison fish and other species.
Monitoring human wellbeing
PSI lead social scientist Kelly Biedenweg has received funding to develop a series of tools for measuring ecosystem services and human wellbeing in Puget Sound. The three-year grant of just over $399,000 comes from the EPA Early Career Projects fund and will support work by Biedenweg and a post-doctoral researcher. Biedenweg received the grant through Oregon State University where she is an Assistant Professor of Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife. The project will help local organizations in the region use new and emerging data sources in the context of the state's Vital Sign indicators for Puget Sound.
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Recent papers:
(co-authored by PSI’s Tessa Francis)
Shelton, A. O., Francis, T. B., Feist, B. E., Williams, G. D., Lindquist, A., & Levin, P. S. (2016). Forty years of seagrass population stability and resilience in an urbanizing estuary. Journal of Ecology. doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12682
(featuring research funded in part by PSI)
Poe, M. R., Donatuto, J., & Satterfield, T. (2016). “Sense of Place”: Human Wellbeing Considerations for Ecological Restoration in Puget Sound. Coastal Management, 44(5), 409-426.
(Kelly Biedenweg, lead author)
Biedenweg, K. (2016). A Comparative Study of Human Well-Being Indicators Across Three Puget Sound Regions. Society & Natural Resources, 1-15.
(Andy James, lead author; Justin Miller-Schulze, Alex Gipe and Joel Baker co-authors)
James, C. A., Miller-Schulze, J. P., Ultican, S., Gipe, A. D., & Baker, J. E. (2016). Evaluating Contaminants of Emerging Concern as tracers of wastewater from septic systems. Water Research, 101, 241-251.
(Nicholas Georgiadis, co-author)
Ishida, Y., Van Coeverden de Groot, P. J., Leggett, K. E., Putnam, A. S., Fox, V. E., Lai, J., Boag, P.T., Georgiadis, N.J. & Roca, A. L. (2016). Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert. Ecology and Evolution, 6(17), 6189-6201.
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