New WWU report cites these key threats to the Salish Sea ecosystem

Urban sprawl and climate change remain a major threat to the Salish Sea, according to a new report from Western Washington University.

Lead author Kathryn Sobocinski and others examined the region’s diverse creatures and habitat as a single ecosystem in the 275-page report, which was published May 20 by WWU’s Salish Sea Institute.

Their research is the first in-depth look in more than 25 years at the Salish Sea, which encompasses the Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia — a massive estuary where the Pacific Ocean mixes with rivers and streams that flow from the surrounding mountains, according to a statement introducing the report.