Dicks' son to head Puget Sound restoration agency

The man newly appointed to head the state agency that seeks to restore Puget Sound called the task "daunting, but doable."

David Dicks, an environmental attorney and the son of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, was appointed Tuesday by Gov. Christine Gregoire to be the first director of the Puget Sound Partnership, an agency focused on resuscitating the region's marine waters.

Dicks, who spent summers as a kid swimming in Hood Canal, has worked to recover Puget Sound chinook and helped Gregoire and the Legislature create the state agency earlier this year. He also has studied the mistakes made by officials leading restoration projects in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Florida's Everglades.

In making the announcement Tuesday, Gregoire said Dicks brings passion and energy that "will match that of the many grassroots groups working with the state to restore the Sound."

Wednesday, Dicks, 36, said he plans to use that energy to elevate efforts to revitalize Puget Sound to "one of the major ecological restoration programs in the country."

"It's not just a job to me," Dicks said. "It's about my heart and what I really, truly care about."

But he recognizes the task poses challenges.

Already, one-third of the Sound is hemmed in by seawalls that prevent waves from replenishing shorelines with fresh sand and gravel, while more than two-thirds of the Sound's wetlands and estuaries have been filled or drained for development. And the region expects to have to accommodate an additional 1 million people by 2020.

"It's going to be a gigantic challenge," Dicks said. "It's going to involve difficult decisions about shoreline development, development in general, watersheds, estuaries."

First up for Dicks: Compile all of the available research on Puget Sound, identify a scientifically defensible list of the top restoration priorities, and put together a detailed work plan to tackle those projects by 2020. That work plan is due to the governor by fall 2008.

Once that plan is in place, Dicks also must lead an effort to find money — likely billions of dollars — to help pay for all that work.

"At the end of the day, I think funding will be the result of a credible plan and of us doing a good job explaining the importance of cleaning up Puget Sound," he said.

Dicks is expected to start his new role sometime next month.

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com