In working to preserve and protect the nearshore areas of
Vashon-Maury Island, we are also working to protect Puget Sound.

 
The critical habitats found along Island shorelines are not only important local habitat, they are vital to the health of the greater Puget ecosystem.  Protecting our shorelines here gives refuge to juvenile chinook, provides spawning grounds for the herring and forage fish that make up the backbone of a healthy Puget sound and provides the endangered orca with a critical food source in the late fall and early winter months.

With this, as we move forward, Preserve Our Islands will be keeping a strong focus on local nearshore projects designed to protect and preserve important shoreline functions.

• Although the former Calportland site is no longer at risk from development, the upcoming year will see the development of a cleanup plan for the arsenic contamination found on the property, as well as a management plan that will dictate the uses and goals of the new park.  Preserve Our Islands will be working with both local and state agencies to ensure that planning efforts are developed wisely and with ecosystem protection as the priority. In this work, we will also make sure that the community is involved in each step of decision making, and that Islanders voices are heard and represented in planning.

• We will also be providing oversight and advocacy to the work currently being done by local and state agencies related to both the low-dissolved oxygen issues in Quartermaster Harbor as well as the work being done to address potentially failing septic systems along the harbor’s shoreline.

• Most significantly, we will be working with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to revise the Management Plan for the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve – making sure to close the loopholes left by former Commissioner Sutherland and establishing a plan that holds the primary purpose of strong environmental protection. As just one component of this work, we will be implementing the development of a citizens stakeholder group that will act as a guidance committee for reserve management planning, baseline analysis and monitoring and to support decision making in leasing or use decisions that come before DNR.

And…above all, we will continue to keep our well seasoned sword sharpened and close by – in the event that a bigger local threat needs our immediate attention.

 
Please join us we embark on this new pathway to protect both Island shorelines.

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… because the work done here not only preserves the Islands that we love, it also contributes to the recovery of Puget Sound.