After Years Spent  Fighting for Puget Sound…
Our Work Has Just Begun.

Over a decade ago, Preserve Our Islands rose up from the small kitchen table where the group was formed. And, with the community at our side, we began to wage a battle against for Maury Island and for Puget Sound.

We fought to protect the wide ribbons of eelgrass and the shimmering silver herring that are the backbone of a healthy ecosystem. We fought for the salmon and we fought for the orcas -northwest icons on the brink of extinction, who with each rise of the dorsal fin remind us of all that is at stake and of all that could be lost forever.

Together, with a tenacity and power that can only be brought forth by many people working as one, we succeeded in winning the fight for Maury Island.   While many organizations might have  then chosen to pat themselves on the back, toast their success and call it a day - we knew that there was still important work to be done.

We knew that there were still local nearshore issues that needed attention and we knew that the greater regional body of Puget Sound itself was hanging in the balance as a result of the impacts from improperly regulated shoreline development that has ravaged vital ecosystems.

And so…we go on.

With input from detailed research and consultation with agency staff, elected officials, statewide and local environmental leaders, ecologists - including orca and salmon specialists – and most importantly, with our membership, we have developed a bold new plan to move forward with work that ensures the protection of both local nearshore ecosystems and greater Puget Sound habitats.

In this new role, POI will continue to work on locally focused projects to tenaciously protect and preserve island habitats while at the same time branching out to work as regional regulatory “watchdog” group – providing direct oversight to permits for work in the Puget Sound nearshore.  This regional work will be done not only to  to ensure the protection of the vital Sound-wide ecosytem, but also to effect change within the culture of the regulatory agencies themselves so that permits are no longer rubber stamped with an approval, and that project decisions are based first and foremost  on sound science and environmental protections.

We are incredibly excited as we embark on this new pathway to protect both Island shorelines and Puget Soundand we are asking you to again stand up with us.

We are asking you to help us fight for safe, clean water for the Quartermaster Herring stock, for the protection of the new park and the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve, for the orcas and salmon, and for the critical ecosystems in Puget Sound that are under attack each and every day.

Click here for more information on the work we are doing on Vashon-Maury Island.
Click here for more information on our new role as a regional regulatory watchdog organization.