This project will use the Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework (PSIMF), a tool that links environmental models across the land-sea interface, enabling decision-makers to explore the consequences of different management actions on habitat health, species diversity, and human communities across the Puget Sound basin.
Resource managers in Puget Sound have limited resources to invest in restoring this complex ecosystem to meet recovery goals. A key challenge is how best to balance conservation priorities with the socioeconomic needs of diverse industries and communities. This requires a fuller understanding of the land-sea interface, including how upstream pressures and decisions (e.g., land development) cascade across the watershed to impact marine biodiversity.
In this project, a team from Long Live the Kings and University of Washington’s Puget Sound Institute will use the PSIMF tool, which they helped develop, to collaborate with state and federal agencies, Tribal Nations, and other regional decision-makers to:
- review the outcomes of future management scenarios in riparian habitats previously co-developed with stakeholders;
- explore impacts on ocean and coastal biodiversity associated with this scenario;
- create an interactive digital dashboard and other outreach materials that translate model results into usable formats; and
- inform future management scenarios that apply the PSIMF tool.
This project was funded in August 2026 as part of the 2026 Ocean Biodiversity Program Regional Engagement Grants.
