Restoring tidal marshes, such as this one at the mouth of the Nisqually River, increases habitat for salmon and other wildlife and reestablishes Puget Sound floodplains that have been altered by humans. This tidal marsh restoration project is the largest of its kind to date in the Pacific Northwest. 

(Photo by Art Wolfe)

Steller sea lions are the largest of the sea lions, with males weighing two thousand pounds on average. These aquatic mammals are commonly found in the northern waters of the Salish Sea. (Photo by Drew Collins)

Decorated warbonnets utilize space under ledges, in cracks in rocks, or inside empty barnacles. It’s one of the many creatures that rely on the Salish Sea’s remarkable diversity of habitats.  The marine environment alone hosts 38 mammal species, more than 170 bird species, and more than 260 fish species, according to the SeaDoc Society. 

(Photo by Brandon Cole)

The lion’s mane jellyfish is just one of the many extraordinary creatures in Puget Sound. The largest jellyfish in the world, it can reach several feet in diameter and its mass of tentacles can exceed a hundred feet in length. (Photo by Drew Collins)

Pablo and Maura Silva sustainably grow certified organic strawberries from their Skagit Valley  farm, without harmful fertilizers and pesticides. The fertile soil on their land is the result of thousands of years of the Skagit and Samish Rivers flooding their banks and depositing nutrient-rich soil across the valley. 

(Photo by Harley Soltes)

Nothing spells “wow” quite like a killer whale. The largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales—or orcas—include distinct populations with vastly different eating habits. Transient orcas hunt marine mammals like seals and sea lions. Resident orcas subsist almost entirely on salmon--predominantly chinook salmon, the largest, fattiest species in the region. 

Consisting of three separate pods—J, K, and L—the southern resident orcas live in Puget Sound but their population is dwindling. Several calves from these pods have died in recent years, most famously a calf that lived less than an hour in the summer of 2018. Her mother, Tahlequah, then carried the dead calf for more than two weeks and one thousand miles throughout the Salish Sea. 

(Photo by Brandon Cole)

After living for many years at sea, salmon travel long distances to spawn in the rivers and streams where they were born. After they hatch, the tiny salmon—called alevin at this stage—absorb nutrients from the enormous yolk sacs attached to their bellies. 

(Photo by Amy Gulick)

The largest octopus species in the world, the giant Pacific octopus found in Puget Sound sports eight arms with a radial span of up to twenty feet and commonly weighs between fifty and one hundred pounds. It feeds on shrimp, crabs, clams, snails, fish, and even its own kind. These amazing creatures can also change the texture of their skin to camouflage themselves. (Photo by Brandon Cole)

Kelp forests provide homes and cover for numerous species in our marine waters. These large seaweeds form dense canopies in intertidal and subtidal areas and can extend a hundred feet deep. They take up nutrients coming down the rivers, buffer ocean acidification, and, with the help of sunlight, grow into massive structures that feed a multitude of species, from bacteria to sea urchins. Here, a school of black rockfish swims through a bull kelp forest. 

(Photo by Brandon Cole)

The Canoe Journey is an annual event in which Pacific Northwest tribes and First Nations travel ancestral water highways of the Salish Sea and beyond, honoring and nourishing their connections with land, water, and one another. Here, Samish tribal canoes are hauled out on the beach at Fidalgo Bay in Anacortes. 

(Photo by Leslie Dorn)

After traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, this male sockeye is headed upstream to its spawning grounds. The return of salmon to their natal waters is a sight to behold. In countless places around the Sound, visitors can walk to the water’s edge and watch these mighty fish as they work their way up their native streams to gravel beds where the females deposit their unfertilized eggs and the males deposit their sperm. 

(Photo by Brandon Cole)

For more than a century, the Elwha Dam prevented salmon from reaching their spawning grounds in the upper Elwha River. Following the dam’s removal in 2012 and the removal of the Glines Canyon Dam eight miles upstream two years later, the Elwha River is once again able to flow freely from its headwaters in the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Since the removal of two dams, salmon have returned and are spawning once again. (Photo by Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times)

All of this garbage was collected in a single day from the beach at the mouth of the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula. Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980. Petroleum-based plastics persist in marine environments both underwater and on the water’s surface, wash up on shorelines, and are sometimes consumed by marine creatures and birds. Some plastics in the ocean degrade into smaller pieces, contributing to enormous garbage patches across the planet. (Photo by Rob Casey)

Western sandpipers congregate in estuaries--where fresh water from rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean, supporting life adapted to this unique ecosystem. These estuaries provide critical stopovers for migrating shorebirds, connecting life around the globe. These Western sandpipers are on their way from their wintering grounds on the coasts of North and South America to the Arctic to nest and hatch their young. 

(Photo by Gerrit Vyn)

From enjoying beach walks to fishing the rivers that feed Puget Sound to hiking or snowshoeing in the mountains that surround the watershed, this region offers seemingly endless opportunities to get outside year-round. Recreating responsibly means checking the weather and being prepared--but it also means leaving no trace so that everyone encounters the same incredible beauty. Spending time outside observing the natural world--an opportunity open to everyone--helps us feel connected to it and each other.

(Photo by Glenn Nelson)