June 9, 2009 | Edition 5

In this issue:

Celebrate Orca Awareness Month in June

The Puget Sound Partnership is pleased to support the Orca Network in promoting Orca Awareness Month throughout June. The goal is to focus attention on the plight of the fragile Southern Resident community of orcas, honor their presence in our waters and speed up efforts to recover the population.

If we all work together, we can help protect these precious creatures, which are not only iconic symbols of our region’s identity, but important signals of ecosystem health. For more information visit our home page: www.psp.wa.gov

Partnership OKs $11 million for salmon recovery, estuary restoration

The Leadership Council late last month approved $11 million in salmon recovery and estuary restoration projects throughout the Sound.

“Salmon recovery is essential to the overall recovery of Puget Sound, and vice versa. We won’t achieve one without the other,” said David Dicks, the Partnership’s executive director. “The projects we have endorsed advance the priorities of the Action Agenda and our overall mission to bring the Sound back to health.”

The projects are supported by two separate appropriations the Partnership fought for this legislative session in the 2009-11 state capital budget. For more information about the projects, visit www.psp.wa.gov/pressreleases/partnership_release.php?id=129

Puget Sound fares well in difficult legislative session

Despite facing an unprecedented budget deficit, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature demonstrated stalwart support for the protection and restoration of Puget Sound during the 2009 session, which ended in late April.

The final budget provides approximately $504 million for various state agencies to perform Puget Sound recovery projects, all of which are identified as priorities in the Action Agenda. This continued commitment will help ensure economic, environmental and social benefits, and create and sustain new green jobs in the state’s difficult economy.

For more details about the budget, visit www.psp.wa.gov/pressreleases/partnership_release.php?id=125

Ecosystem Coordination Board gets new chair, members

The Partnership welcomes a new chair and two new members to the Ecosystem Coordination Board (ECB), which is advising how best to implement the Action Agenda.

Snohomish County Councilmember Dave Somers replaces former King County Executive Ron Sims as chair of the ECB. Sims was recently confirmed as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

State Rep. Shelly Short, 7th Legislative District, replaces Rep. Bob Sump, as the representative from the House Republican Caucus. Sump did not seek re-election to his House seat last fall.

The Leadership Council has named Theresa Jennings, director of King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, as the interim ECB representative for the South Central Puget Sound Action Area. They will appoint the permanent replacement later in the year.

The ECB is scheduled to hold its next meeting July 30.

Thank you for working with us to protect and restore Puget Sound!

Please visit the Web site for more information. Comments and questions may be sent by replying to this e-mail or by contacting us directly at:

Puget Sound Partnership
P.O. Box 40900, Olympia, Washington 98504-0900
Toll-free: 800.54.SOUND
Phone: 360.725.5444
E-mail: actionagenda@psp.wa.gov

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