The Washington State Legislature requested the participation of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) in the Puget Sound Partnership's (PSP) efforts to protect and restore Puget Sound. Two kinds of assistance were requested: (1) the nomination of candidates to the PSP Science Panel and (2) the assessment of progress of the PSP Action Agenda.
The Puget Sound Partnership is a state agency established in 2007 that has assumed the functions formerly performed by the Puget Sound Action Team and Shared Strategy for Puget Sound. The Partnership has created a long-term plan called the 2020 Action Agenda, which was adopted in December, 2008. The Action Agenda identifies and prioritizes actions, name those responsible, specifies how funding will be sought, progress tracked, and results reported.
As part of the long-range efforts of the Puget Sound Partnership, the Leadership Council of the Partnership has appointed a nine-member Science Panel. The panel provides independent, nonrepresentational scientific advice to the Leadership Council, Ecosystem Coordination Board and Executive Director of the Partnership on issues related to Puget Sound's ecological and human health.
The science panel was chosen by the PSP Leadership Council from a list of nominees prepared by WSAS. The nominees included experts from scientific, engineering and social science disciplines representing different groups engaged in the conservation, recovery and management of Puget Sound. Members of the Science Panel are listed on the PSP website.
In addition to nominating candidates for the Science Panel, WSAS has also been asked to conduct an assessment of basin-wide restoration progress. This assessment will include a determination of the extent to which implementation of the Action Agenda for the Puget Sound Partnership is making progress toward its goals, and a determination of whether the environmental indicators and benchmarks included in the action agenda accurately measure and reflect progress toward those goals.
The first WSAS assessment report of PSP progress released August 2012.