Defining a Sense of Place and Opportunities for the Future
We are defined by water in this place we call home. We can see
it, sense it, smell it almost everywhere we turn. It defines our
collective sense of place and is the touchstone for our communities,
economies and lives. The Puget Sound and Georgia Basin is composed
of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Georgia, Rosario,
and Haro and the lands and rivers that drain into these coastal
waters. Before re-named by western European explorers, these inland
fjords, straits and estuaries together were known by Tribal and
First Nations peoples as the Salish Sea – the traditional
name for the great inland waterway stretching from Puget Sound to
the Johnstone Strait. Humans have inhabited the Salish Sea for over
10,000 years, living richly from an almost indescribable bounty
of salmon, berries, elk, bear, marine mammals and forest resources.
Today, this diverse and productive ecosystem still provides for
both the basic needs and quality of our lives, and for the long-term
viability of our communities.
Whulj is a Coast Salish word meaning “the saltwater we know.”
This is a more fitting description for the inland marine waters
of the Pacific Northwest than the more restrictive term “Puget
Sound.” The Puget Sound officially comprises only a small part
of the greater inland sea of Washington and British Columbia, also
known as the Salish Sea.
Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Indicators
The Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Indicators give a glimpse
into the environmental conditions of our home, including the interactions
between over seven million people and a complex system of water,
animals and tiny microorganisms. By 2020, we will add another two
million people to the Basin, without a corresponding increase in
land and related natural resources.
Indicators, from the Latin verb indicare, enable us to take complex
scientific and social data to provide a simplified, quantified and
communicated expression that anyone can understand. Blood pressure
readings and the Dow-Jones industrial average are indicators. Indicators
also show us where we are relative to where we want to be and as
such, help us manage these complex interactions by taking small
course corrections when conditions are not improving.
The Here and Now, With No Time to Waste
We are at the cusp of making historic decisions regarding the nature
of how we grow in this region. Will we pave over our field of dreams
and let species come to the brink of peril, losing economic opportunity
and good human health? Or will we create a positive vision of our
future by mapping out growth strategies, learning to be more elegant
with design and function so we can save the things worth saving,
while providing opportunities to "do well by doing good"?
What will we tell our children in 20 years about the direction
we chose?
Leaving a legacy for our children, leading meaningful and mindful
lives which provide opportunity for all people – while respecting
the diversity, function, magic and utility of our spectacular natural
resources – will take intelligent action and thoughtfulness
from each of us. We hope that through these indicators we learn
together, to understand and to protect the things that make life
worth living in this place we call home.
