John Lombard was named Conservationist of the Year by Northwest Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration. The North Pacific International Chapter of the American Fisheries Society awarded Lombard the Haig-Brown Award for environmental writing. No other developed area in the world matches the Puget Sound region's combination of beauty, wealth, natural resiliency, and history of environmental concern. Saving Puget Sound develops a practical proposal to conserve the Puget Sound region's most important ecosystems in the face of long-term population growth, drawing lessons that are relevant across the Northwest and in other parts of the country. It provides both a vision for conservation and a detailed review of the political and legal issues that must be at the core of any practical strategy to achieve it.

Puget Sound is a magnificent and intricate estuary, the very core of life in Western Washington. Yet it's also a place of broader significance: rivers rush from the Cascade and Olympic mountains and Canada's coastal ranges through varied watersheds to feed the Sound, which forms the southern portion of a complex, international ecosystem known as the Salish Sea. A rich, life-sustaining home shared by two countries, as well as 50-plus Native American Tribes and First Nations, the Salish Sea is also a huge economic engine, with outdoor recreation and commercial shellfish harvesting alone worth $10.2 billion. But this spectacular inland sea is suffering. Pollution and habitat loss, human population growth, ocean acidification, climate change, and toxins from wastewater and storm runoff present formidable challenges. We Are Puget Sound amplifies the voices and ideas behind saving Puget Sound, and it will help engage and inspire citizens around the region to join together to preserve its ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on it.

The Puget Sound is a complex fjord-estuary system in Washington State that is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Juan de Fuca Strait and surrounded by several large population centers. The watershed is enormous, covering nearly 43,000 square kilometers with thousands of rivers and streams. Geological forces, volcanos, Ice Ages, and changes in sea levels make the Sound a biologically dynamic and fascinating environment, as well as a productive ecosystem. Human activity has also influenced the Sound. Humans built several major cities, such as Seattle and Tacoma, have dramatically affected the Puget Sound. This book describes the natural history and evolution of Puget Sound over the last 100 million years through the present and into the future. Key Features Summarizes a complex geological, geographical, and ecological history Reviews how the Puget Sound has changed and will likely change in the future Examines the different roles of various drivers of the Sound’s ecosystem function Includes the role of humans—both first people and modern populations. Explores Puget Sound as an example of general bay ecological and environmental issues

Not far from Seattle skyscrapers live 150-year-old clams, more than 250 species of fish, and underwater kelp forests as complex as any terrestrial ecosystem. For millennia, vibrant Coast Salish communities have lived beside these waters dense with nutrient-rich foods, with cultures intertwined through exchanges across the waterways. Transformed by settlement and resource extraction, Puget Sound and its future health now depend on a better understanding of the region’s ecological complexities. Focusing on the area south of Port Townsend and between the Cascade and Olympic mountains, Williams uncovers human and natural histories in, on, and around the Sound. In conversations with archaeologists, biologists, and tribal authorities, Williams traces how generations of humans have interacted with such species as geoducks, salmon, orcas, rockfish, and herring. He sheds light on how warfare shaped development and how people have moved across this maritime highway, in canoes, the mosquito fleet, and today’s ferry system. The book also takes an unflinching look at how the Sound’s ecosystems have suffered from human behavior, including pollution, habitat destruction, and the effects of climate change. Witty, graceful, and deeply informed, Homewaters weaves history and science into a fascinating and hopeful narrative, one that will introduce newcomers to the astonishing life that inhabits the Sound and offers longtime residents new insight into and appreciation of the waters they call home. A Michael J. Repass Book

Running from Point Defiance to Sidney, British Columbia, the Washington State ferry system is the single largest tourist attraction in the state, with 28 routes and 23 million riders annually. In this volume, travelers are invited to look back to the past and bid Puget Sound's "ancient mariners" a fond farewell.

When the Freeman family decided to transform a drainage ditch into a stream that could again nurture salmon, they knew the task would be formidable but the rewards plentiful. Saving Tarboo Creek artfully blends the story of the family's efforts with profound lessons about how we can live more constructive, fulfilling, and natural lives by engaging with the land rather than exploiting it. Based on the land ethic passionately promoted by Susan Leopold Freeman's grandfather, Aldo Leopold, in his influential book A Sand County Almanac, this timely tribute to our natural environment and the urgent need to protect it is destined to be another inspiring classic.

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award Bounded on the east by the crest of the Cascade Range and on the west by the lofty east flank of the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound terrain includes every imaginable topograhic variety. This thoughtful and eloquent natural history of the Puget Sound region begins with a discussion of how the ice ages and vulcanism shaped the land and then examines the natural attributes of the region--flora and fauna, climate, special habitats, life histories of key organisms--as they pertain to the functioning ecosystem. Mankind's effects upon the natural environment are a pervasive theme of the book. Kruckeberg looks at both positive and negative aspects of human interaction with nature in the Puget basin. By probing the interconnectedness of all natural aspects of one region, Kruckeberg illustrates ecological principles at work and gives us a basis for wise decision-making. The Natural History of Puget Sound Country is a comprehensive reference, invaluable for all citizens of the Northwest, as well as for conservationists, biologists, foresters, fisheries and wildlife personnel, urban planners, and environmental consultants everywhere. Lavishly illustrated with over three hundred photographs and drawings, it is much more than a beautiful book. It is a guide to our future.