Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, Toni Droscher

Restoring Puget Sound’s habitat is one of eight key objectives established in law in the Puget Sound Partnership’s 2020 Action Agenda.

What's the problem?

The Puget Sound region contains an amazing variety of habitats, each supporting diverse communities of plant and animal life, and each an integral part of a healthy ecosystem.

In the last 100 years, many once-intact habitats along shorelines, rivers and streams have been damaged by:

  • Extensive development.
  • Land conversion (from forests to timber land, industrial use, agriculture, residential housing).
  • Shoreline armoring, such as bulkheads or riprap.
  • The introduction of non-native, invasive species.
  • Derelict fishing gear, such as old “ghost” nets and abandoned crab pots.  

Habitats are shrinking and becoming increasingly cut off from other habitats. As a result, they are less able to sustain the ecological processes necessary to support life. From tiny, microscopic plankton to salmon to orca, each organism plays an important role in the complex food web of Puget Sound . And each organism needs healthy habitats to flourish.  

We’ve seen only too well how habitat loss and other factors such as toxic pollution can threaten species survival in Puget Sound . State and federal listings include nearly 50 species of fish, marine mammals, birds and invertebrates in the basin. Many are considered endangered or threatened. Others are candidates for listing or considered species of concern or are being closely monitored.  

The damage and destruction of Puget Sound habitats in the past—and present—have created an ongoing need for repair and cleanup.  

Puget Sound has already lost an astonishing 80 percent of its estuary habitat.
Protecting remaining habitat alone will not be enough to attain ecosystem health. Large-scale, ecosystem-wide restoration efforts in upland and marine areas must work hand-in-hand with habitat protection. The pace and scale of restoration must be significantly increased for recovery. Restoration must work hand-in-hand with habitat protection to avoid the continuous and costly cycle of damage, repair, and cleanup.

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What's being done?

Every day, efforts to restore habitats take place throughout the Sound. State, local and federal agencies, tribes, non-profit organizations, businesses and volunteers are the main players. The following are some highlights of work underway:

The Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership (PSNP) explores the feasibility of large-scale nearshore ecosystem restoration for the benefit of the biological resources and the integrity of the ecosystem. Some of PSNP’s work includes collecting and organizing data and developing a strategic portfolio of restoration projects. PSNP expects to complete restoration work for the Nisqually, Qwuloolt, Skokomish and Wiley Slough Skagit estuaries in the 2007-2009 biennium.

>> Learn more about efforts to restore habitats in the 2007-2009 Puget Sound Conservation and Recovery Plan.

>> Learn what you can do to help restore Puget Sound habitats

>> Learn more / get resources about habitat resources.

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