South Puget Sound

Place

Places are locations in the landscape recognized by people

Salish Sea References

• Ecology Shoreline Photography Viewer
• The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound provides a peer reviewed version of the wiki
• PRISM Project Search
• Washington Coastal Atlas
• UW River History Project

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South Puget Sound encompasses all the areas of Puget Sound, South of the Tacoma Narrows.

Notes

• South Puget Sound Volunteer Opportunities - a list of organizations that offer direct hands-on opportunities to restore ecosystems.
• Dissolved oxygen from nitrogen loading http://www.ecy.wa.gov/puget_sound/dissolved_oxygen_study.html
  • In the 2008 Water Quality Assessment, Ecology found that 24 locations in South Puget Sound were impaired due to a lack of dissolved oxygen. Ecology identified another 27 locations as waters of concern. The locations of greatest concern are Carr, Case, and Budd Inlets. Fish need oxygen. In areas with low levels of dissolved oxygen, fish and other marine life become stressed and die or are forced to flee their habitat. From [1]
  • On an annual basis, wastewater treatment plants south of the Tacoma Narrows send an average of 6,000 pounds of dissolved inorganic nitrogen into South Puget Sound per day. Another 11,000 pounds of dissolved inorganic nitrogen came from all other human and natural sources in the watershed. During the critical summer period for dissolved oxygen when river flows are lower, the wastewater treatment plants are a larger percentage of the load. The area between the Tacoma Narrows and Edmonds has many more people and it contributes about four times more dissolved inorganic nitrogen than South Puget Sound. Future work will quantify the amount of nitrogen coming into South Puget Sound from the Pacific Ocean. [2]
• Prairie ecosystems are notable in glacial outwash
• Joint Base Lewis McCord provides a major ecological preserve under federal ownership
• Urbanization is rapid (need strong source)
• Nisqually Watershed is a focus of protection by multiple parties
• Two tribes
  • Squaxin Island Tribe
  • Nisqually Indian Tribe
• Deschutes Delta is controversial major restoration opportunity
• Budd Inlet is a Puget Sound Initiative cleanup site due to industrial contamination.

Planning

• The Squaxin Island Tribe completed a Nearshore habitat assessment in Mason County.
• Capital Land Trust completed a Thurston County aquisition assessment.
• South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group completed an analysis of the drift cells from Nisqually Delta to Pt. Defiance.

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the level of oxygen gas present in water, indicating its ability to support aquatic life.