Salish Sea Currents Series

Series: Habitat protection and restoration–sponsored by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead

Puget Sound recovery strategic initiatives

This series of articles profiles select findings from grant-funded projects commissioned by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a cross-agency team co-led by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources. HSIL distributed EPA Puget Sound Geographic Program funds to more than 100 grant recipients between 2016-2020. Articles in this series describe findings from several of those projects, including assessments of the risk of flooding driven by climate change, research to mitigate flooding caused by beavers, and zooplankton monitoring efforts.


All across the region, communities are finding that rising seas and rising rivers are two sides of the same coin. New research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency may help managers target their responses to climate-fueled flood risks in Puget Sound. The following article was commissioned by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a cross-agency team co-led by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources.

Zooplankton are critical to the marine food web, but until recently there have been few surveys of the zooplankton community in Puget Sound. Ongoing monitoring is now revealing a system full of complexity and surprises. The following article was commissioned by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a cross-agency team co-led by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources.

Beavers provide critical benefits for wetland ecosystems but can also alter the landscape in ways that are unpredictable for property owners and conservationists alike. New techniques are helping humans and beavers share the landscape with the goal of benefiting both parties. The following article was commissioned by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a cross-agency team co-led by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources.