Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - Page updated at 05:13 PM

A Seattle Times Special Report

Failing our Sound

Today, stormwater flowing into Puget Sound is a slow-motion oil spill. Coho salmon have been filmed going belly-up in Seattle streams after encountering a gush of stormwater.

• Introduction
• Are we striking the right balance between protecting the Sound and growth?

The painful cost of booming growth

• New ideas | Project meets challenge of runoff
• Graphic | How development harms Puget Sound (PDF)
• Audio Slideshow | Eiichi "Jerry" Yamashita, oyster farmer
• Scientists warn the current approach to stormwater threatens Puget Sound (PDF)
• Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties critique (PDF)
• Consultants and engineers critique the scientist's letter (PDF)
• The Washington Chapter of the American Public Works Association letter concurring with scientists (PDF)
• Internal Ecology memo discusses political strategy for stormwater regulation (PDF)
• Resources

Good intentions, bad results when it comes to replacing wetlands

Wetlands help sustain hundreds of species and are crucial to Puget Sound. Efforts to replace and increase them have instead created a patchwork of failed projects.

Saving wetlands: a broken promise

• Introduction | How we're still failing our Sound
• Part 1 | The painful cost of booming growth
• Graphic | How wetlands keep Puget Sound healthy (PDF)
• Are we striking the right balance between protecting the Sound and making room for growth?
• Seattle Times Special Report | Failing our Sound

Beaches suffer as walls go up

Shoreline-property owners continue building walls to protect their land, despite the harm the structures inflict on some of the richest pockets of life in the Sound.

Beach bulkheads come in different sizes and shapes

• New ideas | "Soft" approach protects beach, too
• Graphic | How bulkheads harm beaches (PDF)
• Introduction | How we're still failing our Sound
• Part 1 | The painful cost of booming growth
• Part 2 | Saving wetlands: a broken promise
• Are we striking the right balance between protecting the Sound and making room for growth?
• Seattle Times Special Report | Failing our Sound

Paying landowners to protect Puget Sound

Some places around Puget Sound are experimenting with using the market to help the environment: Farmers get paid extra to keep farming. Developers buy credits to build more houses where they otherwise couldn't. So far, few landowners here have participated.

• Would you pay more to protect Puget Sound?

WEBCAST AND INTERACTIVE CHAT
Local business, government and environmental leaders chatted with Seattle Times reporters.

• Audio and video excerpts from the discussion

Tuesday | Q&A: What can I do to help protect Puget Sound?
Curtis Hinman, a watershed ecologist with Washington State University Extension office in Pierce County and Jim Brennan, a marine habitat specialist answered your questions at noon on Tuesday about things you can do to protect Puget Sound.

• Read the discussion.