West Sound

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West Sound includes the Eastern-facing portion of the Kitsap Peninsula facing the main basin of Central Puget Sound. To the South is South Puget Sound, and North is Admiralty Inlet. East is Hood Canal and West is the megapolis of East Sound. The protected passages and inlets of Port Orchard Sound are the bodies of water that permeate East Sound, sandwiched between the Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island, including the catchments of Sinclair Inlet and Dyes Inlets in the South and the catchment of Liberty Bay in the north. The reservation of the Lushootseed-speaking Suquamish Tribe encircles Port Madison and Miller Bay. Still further North are the northern reaches of the Kitsap at the ambiguous intersection of Hood Canal, Port Gamble Ecosystem, West Sound and Admiralty Inlet, and the home of the Klallam-speaking Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe. Defining this landscape by watershed is confusing, when it has been and remains defined by water and negotiated by boat.

The West Sound Partners for Ecosystem Recovery has merged functions of the Lead Entity and the Local Integrating Organization and is chaired by the Suquamish Tribe and Kitsap County. The City of Bremerton is the industrial core of the region built around a Federal Naval Shipyard. A highway connects Bremerton/Port to the City of Tacoma across the narrows bridge. In return the megapolis sprawls across this bridge forming the suburban City of Gig Harbor marking the southern edge of The region. The Northern Inlets of South Puget Sound are often included in this geography, which is politically convenient because they are within the jurisdiction of Pierce County and understandable because of the road access granted by the Narrows Bridge tying these communities into the Bremerton-Tacoma corridor more than other reaches of South Sound.’’’

‘’’In the far North the City of Poulsbo serves as the market center, just off the highway connecting The Megapolis by ferry to North Olympic Peninsula. Bainbridge Island which is linked to West Sound by bridge and The Megapolis by ferry is one of the Major Islands of the Salish Sea. Vashon Island is between East and West, connected to either by ferry, while being politically and economically oriented toward The Megapolis to the east. Kitsap County is part of the Puget Sound Regional Council but West Sound is distinctly less Urban than The Megapolis of East Sound.