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2011 Autumn | Climate Change, Natural Science & Restoration, Sustainability

Multilevel Governance through Collaborative Partnerships: The Key to Comprehensive Restoration in the Puget Sound

Student(s):

Jessica Jetter

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Angela Grout

Partner(s):

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10

Faculty advisor(s):

Karen Litfin, Department of Political Science, University of Washington

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the National Estuary Program (NEP) to protect our most valuable estuarine ecosystems. Puget Sound is one of these protected sites. NEPs use collaborative partnerships to manage designated restoration sites, and to collect voluntary data on all restoration projects. My task, in working with the EPA, was to improve voluntary data collection for the Puget Sound Partnership. I used a combination of observational study, fieldwork, and literature analysis to determine improved methods of data collection. Ultimately I found that partnerships are essential for complex restoration and that increased collaboration is needed for existing partnerships.