The past, present and future of natural conditions in the United States are described in a new report, which has traveled a bumpy road to its current draft form, now out for public review and comment.
“The Nature Record,” originally titled the “National Nature Assessment,” was launched in 2022 as a government project — the first of its kind. The effort involved more than 160 leading scientists from throughout the country, representing wide-ranging fields of study related to the natural environment.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is responding to new legal rulings and public concerns with changes in planning and potentially future enforcement. We continue our occasional series on water quality and wastewater management in Puget Sound. Funding for the series is provided in part by King County.
Increasing concerns surround PFAS in products from wastewater treatment plants. How great a risk do they pose, and are there feasible approaches to removing them? We continue our occasional series on water quality and wastewater management in Puget Sound. Funding for the series is provided in part by King County.
The year 2025 has been fairly mystifying to experts who make their living studying natural systems in the Puget Sound region.
Unusual observations this year include record-low dissolved oxygen levels, unexpected gray whale visitations, and the sudden arrival of an astounding number of short-tailed shearwaters — a seabird almost never seen in Puget Sound.
Marbled murrelets are a rare sight in Puget Sound. The threatened birds have declined severely in California, Oregon, and Washington, and biologists are intrigued by their summer presence in Commencement Bay.
Crab Team members maintain a massive surveillance program to track the population’s advance, while researchers probe the inner workings of the invasive species.
