We have often worked with the Puget Sound Partnership on projects that directly support their Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP).

We coordinate the PSEMP Marine Mammals Work Group, which convenes experts involved in monitoring marine mammals that inhabit or migrate throughout the Salish Sea. Since 2022, we have provided facilitation support for the Work Group and special workshops such as to scope out a new indicator for monitoring Southern Resident Killer Whale and Bigg’s orca presence in Puget Sound. In coordination with the Orca Recovery Coordinator at the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office, we conducted interviews and workshops to build a inventory of monitoring projects and programs that support the state’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force Recommendations.

To further understand the landscape of monitoring and where there are research and funding needs, the True Wind team partnered with the PSEMP Toxics Work Group to design and deliver a comprehensive inventory of toxic contaminant research in the Salish Sea. Our team conducted interviews, facilitated input sessions and workshops, and distributed surveys to agency, academia, and NGO researchers.

Adjacent to our work with PSEMP, our team worked with Puget Sound Partnership and King County to design a stakeholder engagement process around updating the existing statewide application for stream benthos data, an important component for understanding stream health. The existing system is a critical source of information for Puget Sound Vital Signs but can no longer handle the volume of data or complex needs of end users. Our team designed a project scoping process, facilitated workshops, and developed recommendations to shepherd a database application update process.