Ecosystem Recovery Plan Goals
- Update WSPER’s 5-year workplan.
- Collect and present data on current conditions in an interactive mapping tool.
- Update our pressures assessment to reflect present threats to ecosystem health.
- Match current conditions and pressures with strategies and actions.
A written version of the ERP report is available here.
Goal Areas and Vital Signs
This plan leverages extensive planning efforts by the Puget Sound Partnership, adopting regional goals and connecting strategies and actions to impaired ecosystems. This plan assesses data for 21 Vital Sign Indicators in four goal areas, including Healthy Human Population, Vibrant Quality of Life, Thriving Species and food Web, Functioning Habitat, and Healthy Water Quality.
Healthy Human Population
Our goal is a healthy population supported by a healthy Puget Sound that is not threatened by changes in the ecosystem.
Humans are part of the Puget Sound ecosystem. From the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the local foods we eat and the parks we enjoy, a healthy Puget Sound supports a healthy human population.
Vibrant Human Quality of Life
Our goal is a quality of human life that is sustained by a functioning Puget Sound ecosystem.
A healthy Puget Sound ecosystem contributes to human wellbeing by providing access to nature and green space, opportunities for recreation, and economic prosperity. Tribal cultures depend on the ability to exercise treaty rights to fish, gather plants, and hunt for subsistence, cultural, spiritual, ceremonial, and medicinal needs.
Thriving Species and Food Web
Our goal is healthy and sustaining populations of native species in Puget Sound, including a robust food web.
A diverse and resilient food web allows for healthy and sustaining populations of native species in Puget Sound. Iconic and economically important species, like orcas and salmon, are still far from recovery goals. Healthy habitats, water quality, and the dynamic relationships between species must be restored and preserved to ensure a thriving food web.
Functioning Habitat
Our goal is a healthy Puget Sound where marine, nearshore, estuary, freshwater, and upland habitats are protected, restored, and sustained.
Habitats are our shared natural heritage and create the quality of life that makes Puget Sound an attractive place to live, work, and play. Human activity and development have deeply changed the Puget Sound region, and climate change is more than ever impacting habitat critical for species and human wellbeing.
Healthy Water Quality
Our goal is waters and sediments of a sufficient quality to support human uses and enjoyment, and that are not harmful to native species.
From mountain peaks to the mouth of Puget Sound rivers to the Pacific Ocean, water connects different parts of the ecosystem. However, the condition of this key resource is at risk for all who depend on it.