Science

Integrating scientific information into the decision-making process is of the utmost importance to the Puget Sound Partnership. Monitoring and research are vital to understanding the status of Puget Sound's health.

• Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program (PSAMP)
• Specific science duties
• Additional science duties
• Laboratory support
• Puget Sound protocols and guidelines

Scientists from a number of federal, state, local and tribal governments, universities, environmental organizations and industry groups collaborate and share information on the Puget Sound ecosystem. The scope of their work includes examining how the ecosystem functions and the influence people have on the ecosystem.  

Long-term monitoring helps to detect changes in environmental conditions and measure the effectiveness of actions designed to help the Sound. Other studies focus on cause-and-effect relationships to help guide policy decisions and shape management solutions. In other words, is what we’re spending our time, money and manpower on really working?

Specific science duties

A nine-member Science Panel provides independent, nonrepresentational scientific advice to the Puget Sound Partnership's Leadership Council as well as identifies the environmental indicators and benchmarks that must be achieved in the 2020 Action Agenda.  

To ensure continuity between the Science Panel and Partnership staff, the Partnership’s executive director will appoint a lead scientist from the Partnership staff to act as a liaison to the panel. That appointment will happen in early 2008.

The science program and corresponding work plans will address the following activities:

• Monitoring
• Research
• Modeling
• Restoration
• Data management
• Science communication

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Additional science duties

The Puget Sound Partnership will continue to oversee the Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program (PSAMP), and to produce the Puget Sound Update, a regular scientific report on the state of Puget Sound’s health. The Partnership will also continue to serve as co-sponsors with Canada on the biennial Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference.

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Laboratory support

The Department of Ecology has accredited public and private laboratories since 1987. Laboratories conducting analyses in Puget Sound are accredited to ensure they can produce consistent data of a known quality. The agency audits these laboratories to maintain the highest possible standards of analysis and data reporting.  

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Puget Sound protocols and guidelines

State and federal agencies working on Puget Sound issues ask that agencies, groups and individuals who collect data on the Puget Sound environment use field and laboratory methods that follow the Puget Sound Protocols and Guidelines. The protocols and guidelines encourage scientific investigators to use well-defined and consistent methods of sampling and analyzing environmental data from Puget Sound.

>>>For more information, contact info@psp.wa.gov or call 1.800.54.SOUND.

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