Guest Editorial: A Partnership for Puget Sound
Rain has always been a natural and iconic part of life in Seattle. We dress for it, play in it, and enjoy the benefits of plentiful water and greenery because of it. Yet rain—or more specifically unmanaged stormwater runoff—is harming Puget Sound.
As cities across the region grow and our population becomes increasingly urban, the impact on Puget Sound requires our urgent attention. Urban stormwater runoff contamination can contribute to damaging salmon runs, harming wildlife, closing commercial shellfish beds, contaminating food sources, and flooding.
The Nature Conservancy, The Boeing Company, and our partners believe that the best solution to this pressing problem will come from a coordinated and sustained partnership between government, business, research institutions, and environmental nonprofits. Together we can implement a multi-faceted plan to clean up stormwater and reverse the decline in the health of our beloved sound. And we are doing just that. Leaders in these fields are organizing a coalition of stakeholders working across sectors as City Habitats.
City Habitats is a network composed of organizations and individuals choosing to reimagine Puget Sound’s cities and towns as part of nature. City Habitats’ vision is to create a movement. To inspire Puget Sound communities to come together and turn the tide on one of the most pressing environmental issues we face, an issue that is intricately linked to our health and the prosperity of our region: polluted stormwater runoff.
Breakthrough work is already beginning. With grants from Boeing, City Habitats partners like The Nature Conservancy, Stewardship Partners, and Washington Stormwater Center are launching a coordinated approach with ambitious goals. We will work with our partners to clean up a billion gallons of stormwater before it reaches Puget Sound. We will plant a million trees to hold and filter water, while sequestering carbon and enhancing our cities. We’ll build 20,000 rain gardens, demonstrating the value of natural solutions in tackling a big problem. The work will support cleaner water and thriving communities.
Preserving salmon means connecting the dots between all the hazards they face during their epic life cycles. As our region tackles some of the most sophisticated pollution challenges from our built environment, it must simultaneously tackle the complex challenges in the marine environment.
We hope Boeing’s investment is the first of many from our region’s innovative companies. We urge Puget Sound area businesses that are enjoying success, contributing to our population boom, and thriving in our growing cities to join us in our effort to protect what makes this region so attractive. Our prosperity is founded on nature. Let’s work together to restore it.
Puget Sound is as beautiful and iconic as our region’s rain. The time to protect and restore it is now. Together we can create the will to prioritize the implementation of innovative solutions that will assure a thriving future for nature and people.