SEA: Puget Sound Starts Here

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Puget Sound Starts Here

PSSH is a partnership of regional governments dedicated to improving water quality in Puget Sound and our local lakes, rivers and streams. We are a consortium of 57 cities and counties – called STORM (Stormwater Outreach for Regional Municipalities), Washington State Puget Sound Partnership and Washington State Department of Ecology. Puget Sound Starts Here partners, nonprofit organizations and individuals are working to promote actions which protect and restore the Sound.

Puget Sound Partnership

The Puget Sound Partnership is a community effort of citizens, governments, tribes, scientists and businesses working together to restore and protect Puget Sound. Despite its size, Puget Sound is ecologically delicate, and while its symptoms of trouble are not easily visible, they are undeniable and getting worse. The charge given to the Puget Sound Partnership by Governor Gregoire and the Legislature is to create a real Action Agenda that turns things around and leads to a healthy Puget Sound.

The Puget Sound Partnership Action Agenda will prioritize cleanup and improvement projects, coordinate federal, state, local, tribal and private resources, and make sure that we are all working cooperatively. We will base decisions on science, focus on actions that have the biggest impact, and hold people and organizations accountable for results. The goal is to make Puget Sound healthy again, and create a roadmap for how to get it done. If we work together, we can have both a thriving Puget Sound economy and a clean and healthy Puget Sound ecosystem.

ECO Net

ECO Net (Education, Communication and Outreach Network) is a Sound-wide network of professionals working to help save Puget Sound. It draws on the combined experience, skills and community-level knowledge of local organizations and individuals while linking to and benefiting from regional resources and a comprehensive vision for restoring Puget Sound.

There are twelve local ECO Networks across the twelve counties of Puget Sound. Each Local ECO Net has a designated coordinator and meetings are held at least quarterly.

SEA and Whidbey ECO Net

SEA promotes engagement with the natural world and fosters spirited environmental stewardship by connecting youth, adults and communities in meaningful service and learning on Puget Sound and throughout the Pacific Northwest. SEA's mission and diverse environmental education program activities, on water and land, are deeply aligned with the Puget Sound Action Agenda and ECO Net priorities to protect and restore Puget Sound.

Join Whidbey!

In our work with Whidbey ECO Net, SEA coordinates the Join Whidbey initiative which supports Whidbey school districts, nonprofit organizations, agencies and community members in uniting to create enhanced awareness and local opportunities for engagement in Puget Sound Starts Here (PSSH) focused issues.

SEA Co-Executive Directors Chris Burt and Susie Richards work with participating Whidbey ECO Net members to develop locally-focused PSSH lesson plans, service opportunities and activities. SEA estimates that over 500 individuals are reached through the various elements of the Join Whidbey initiatives, through a combination of students and teachers impacted via curriculum development, local Whidbey ECO Net members engaged and community members who access the Join Whidbey program opportunities.

SEA developed and implemented a workshop to provide participating organizations with an overview of the program, resources, timelines and other tools and strategies necessary to build their localized message and activities related to their organization's mission and the PSSH message.
As part of the Join Whidbey initiative, SEA serves as a liaison between the three island school districts (South Whidbey, Coupeville and Oak Harbor) to align and create linkages between district science activities and PSSH issues, including the delivery of new science mini-lessons and service-learning activities that link district-adopted science kits to PSSH priorities.
SEA also serves as a liaison to ensure that Join Whidbey PSSH messages, localized engagement opportunities and activities are posted on participating Whidbey ECO Net organizational websites.
The SEA website serves as a clearinghouse for all activities and opportunities available through Whidbey ECO Net Join Whidbey participants, in addition to items being posted on participating organizations' websites.

A culminating event will be held in June 2011 at which all participating Join Whidbey Eco-Net organizations will share their locally developed PSSH message with local community members, stakeholders and elected officials.

Lesson Plans

These lesson plans and materials were created as part of the Join Whidbey Project and are offered here for public use. Sustainability, Soil & Our Home or School Garden (PDF) is a series of seven lesson plans, with supporting presentation files:

Soil Story (PowerPoint file)
Soil Profile (PowerPoint file)
Soil Jeopardy (PowerPoint file)