A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound, including declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and changes in coastal habitats. Natural resource managers look to the USGS as a critical science resource needed to solve problems in this important ecosystem.
The deterioration of the Puget Sound nearshore is of special concern — the area extending from the top of shoreline bluffs to a depth offshore where sunlight does not reach the bottom, and upstream in estuaries to the head of tidal influence. It includes bluffs, beaches, mudflats, kelp and eelgrass beds, salt marshes, gravel spits, and estuaries. Because the nearshore is one of the most productive parts of the Sound, improved understanding of it is vital to restoration and preservation of the entire Sound.
To develop a restoration program, Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments, non-governmental organizations, universities, and private industry joined in 2001 to create the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project (PSNERP). In December 2005, protection and restoration of Puget Sound was expanded in scope with the creation of the Puget Sound Partnership. As a task force within the Governor of Washington's Puget Sound Initiative, the Puget Sound Partnership's goal is to develop recommendations to restore the Sound by 2020.
The overall scientific goal of the CHIPS project is to provide scientific support for ecosystem recovery activities in Puget Sound. Through its diverse studies, the CHIPS project strives to demonstrate a structure and process for conducting interdisciplinary ecosystem science.
See links below for more information about USGS work in Puget Sound.
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are publications (USGS products, journal articles, etc.) associated with this project. See the “Data and Tools” tab for a list of Data Releases.
Suspended sediment delivery to Puget Sound from the lower Nisqually River, western Washington, July 2010–November 2011
Changes in habitat availability for outmigrating juvenile salmon (Oncorhychus spp.) following estuary restoration
Modeling the effects of urban expansion on natural capital stocks and ecosystem service flows: A case study in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA
Impacts of Climate Change on Regulated Streamflow, Hydrologic Extremes, Hydropower Production, and Sediment Discharge in the Skagit River Basin
Combined effects of projected sea level rise, storm surge, and peak river flows on water levels in the Skagit Floodplain
Southern Salish Sea Habitat Map Series: Admiralty Inlet
Southern Salish Sea Habitat Map Series data catalog
Vegetation community response to tidal marsh restoration of a large river estuary
Geospatial assessment of ecological functions and flood-related risks on floodplains along major rivers in the Puget Sound Basin, Washington
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community prepares for climate change impacts
Sedimentology of new fluvial deposits on the Elwha River, Washington, USA, formed during large-scale dam removal
Indigenous community health and climate change: integrating biophysical and social science indicators
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are news stories associated with this project.
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound, including declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and changes in coastal habitats. Natural resource managers look to the USGS as a critical science resource needed to solve problems in this important ecosystem.
The deterioration of the Puget Sound nearshore is of special concern — the area extending from the top of shoreline bluffs to a depth offshore where sunlight does not reach the bottom, and upstream in estuaries to the head of tidal influence. It includes bluffs, beaches, mudflats, kelp and eelgrass beds, salt marshes, gravel spits, and estuaries. Because the nearshore is one of the most productive parts of the Sound, improved understanding of it is vital to restoration and preservation of the entire Sound.
To develop a restoration program, Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments, non-governmental organizations, universities, and private industry joined in 2001 to create the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project (PSNERP). In December 2005, protection and restoration of Puget Sound was expanded in scope with the creation of the Puget Sound Partnership. As a task force within the Governor of Washington's Puget Sound Initiative, the Puget Sound Partnership's goal is to develop recommendations to restore the Sound by 2020.
The overall scientific goal of the CHIPS project is to provide scientific support for ecosystem recovery activities in Puget Sound. Through its diverse studies, the CHIPS project strives to demonstrate a structure and process for conducting interdisciplinary ecosystem science.
See links below for more information about USGS work in Puget Sound.
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are publications (USGS products, journal articles, etc.) associated with this project. See the “Data and Tools” tab for a list of Data Releases.
Suspended sediment delivery to Puget Sound from the lower Nisqually River, western Washington, July 2010–November 2011
Changes in habitat availability for outmigrating juvenile salmon (Oncorhychus spp.) following estuary restoration
Modeling the effects of urban expansion on natural capital stocks and ecosystem service flows: A case study in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA
Impacts of Climate Change on Regulated Streamflow, Hydrologic Extremes, Hydropower Production, and Sediment Discharge in the Skagit River Basin
Combined effects of projected sea level rise, storm surge, and peak river flows on water levels in the Skagit Floodplain
Southern Salish Sea Habitat Map Series: Admiralty Inlet
Southern Salish Sea Habitat Map Series data catalog
Vegetation community response to tidal marsh restoration of a large river estuary
Geospatial assessment of ecological functions and flood-related risks on floodplains along major rivers in the Puget Sound Basin, Washington
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community prepares for climate change impacts
Sedimentology of new fluvial deposits on the Elwha River, Washington, USA, formed during large-scale dam removal
Indigenous community health and climate change: integrating biophysical and social science indicators
Below are data releases associated with this project.
Below are news stories associated with this project.