Betsy Peabody
Executive Director, Puget Sound Restoration Fund
betsy@restorationfund.org, www.restorationfund.org
Kelp restoration and conservation efforts in Puget Sound are gaining momentum. Bull kelp is the only canopy forming kelp species in Puget Sound. Fringing underwater forests – vital to human communities and the marine ecosystem – are a fraction of their former abundance in Central and Southern Puget Sound. Tribal Leaders are urging restoration and sharing knowledge of Kelp Lifeways that have supported communities since time immemorial. Puget Sound Restoration Fund (PSRF) has partnered with Tribes and agencies to build restoration capacity, growing a kelp forest from seafloor to sea surface three years running, 2020-2022. In response to declines, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partnered with Washington Department of Natural Resources and local organizations to develop the 2020 Puget Sound Kelp Conservation and Recovery Plan. To breathe life into the Plan, PSRF led an 8-day 2021 KELP expedition with 40 partners, and the Washington State Legislature provided funding for Plan implementation 2021-2023. Moving forward, a 3-year Eyes on Kelp Initiative funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has established 14 Kelp Index Sites throughout Puget Sound. Underwater ecological surveys paired with environmental monitoring of benthic and surface conditions will illuminate conditions driving persistence and decline. New monitoring technology at a pilot site will further inform management. As of 2023, “floating kelp canopy area” will be finalized as a Puget Sound Vital Sign indicator. Across the border, in British Columbia, a kelp node is likewise growing, with a coalition of partners focused on science, stressors, seed banking and surveys.