Son's injury leads Kirkland eye-makers to unusual family business

If you’ve just moved to the Pacific Northwest, you could be forgiven for thinking the concept of the Salish Sea has been around for a long time. After all, use of the phrase is ubiquitous.

The term is used to market everything from bottles of local microbrew or spirits from a trendy organic distillery to a local rowing club, a dive company and a variety of other maritime enterprises. There is even a Washington State Ferry called the Salish and an eerie urban legend known as “The Strange Salish Sea Foot Mystery.”

Visionary Bert Webber: “Good Science Is Stewardship”

Music that connects people to the land and sea has been with us for centuries. Recent singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell have built on that tradition.

Here in the Puget Sound region, you can add another name to that list: Dana Lyons. He's known for his songs about social issues, especially the environment.

Songwriter Dana Lyons: “I Believe In People Power”

One of the biggest concerns about the future of the Salish Sea is the likely expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline. It carries tar sands oil from Canada’s eastern provinces to a terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia, just north of Vancouver.

Tsleil-Waututh Councilor Charlene Aleck

Take a walk around the tony Dundarave neighborhood in north Vancouver, British Columbia, and your views of the water will inevitably include multiple oil tankers.

Vancouver is home to one of the west coast’s busiest ports. The beachside community of Dundarave looks out on the route to Burrard Inlet, where ships carry crude oil from the tar sands to Westridge Terminal through Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Spill Map Program Manager Ross Dixon

When you think of the Salish Sea, the image that first comes to mind probably doesn’t include grassy plains and meadows. But, in fact, the concept of this shared ecosystem that unites the US and Canada extends to the entire basin of the watershed.

Prairie Restoration Expert Robert Pelant

Shina Wysocki grew up on the shores of Eld Inlet in Olympia. She feels at home here. Standing on the beach in her rubber boots as the tide comes in, the spouts of geoducks that make up her family business’ bread and butter spray cheerfully all around, like little fountains.

Olympia Oyster Grower Shina Wysocki

For many people in the Northwest, the undamming of the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula marked a dramatic turning point. The largest dam removal in the world at that time, it unleashed the life-blood of a watershed that fronts on the Salish Sea.

Elwha Tribal Elder and Commercial Fisherman Robert Elofson

Beneath the surface of the Salish Sea, there are hundreds of species of seaweeds growing. They provide habitat and nutrition for many forms of marine life. In Sooke, just west of Victoria in British Columbia, one entrepreneur has developed a line of skin-care products made from foraged kelp.

Seaflora CEO Diane Bernard, “The Seaweed Lady”

The Salish Sea is a complex web of waterways that includes Puget Sound and the straits of Juan de Fuca and Georgia. It also has inflows from 64 rivers and 99 wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. and Canada. Getting a handle on water quality in this unique geography is challenging.

Environmental Engineer Teizeen Mohamedali, The Salish Sea Model

The culture  of the Samish Indian Nation aligns closely with the Salish Sea. Its headquarters are on Fidalgo Island, near Anacortes, and its people are scattered throughout the area, on both sides of the border between the US and Canada.

Tom Wooten, Chairman, Samish Indian Nation

The Salish Sea is home to more than three thousand species. Among them are 253 fish, 172 birds, 38 mammals and two reptiles.

SeaDoc Society Senior Scientist Joe Gaydos

Ranked as one of the top public radio stations in the nation, KNKX has been bringing award-winning local and NPR news, jazz and blues to the Puget Sound Region since 1966.

KNKX Public Radio

Popular tracks