3 April
David Dicks
Executive Director, Puget Sound Partnership
Puget Sound Partnership: A New Approach to Protecting and Restoring Puget Sound by 2020
Abstract
Figure out what’s wrong with Puget Sound, then create an Action Agenda that leads to its restored health – from the end of Hood Canal to the San Juan Islands. That is the ambitious charge given to the Puget Sound Partnership by Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature.
Puget Sound is a vast and complex estuary. Despite its size, it is ecologically delicate. And contributing to that fragility is a growing population. Nearly 4 million people live in Puget Sound now; 1.5 million more are expected in the next 10 to 15 years. With all these people, our need for food, houses, roads and jobs is putting severe stress on the Sound.
Not visible from a ferry deck are signs of serious trouble: Our orcas are the most contaminated whales in the world; shellfish beds are closed because the shellfish are unsafe to eat; beaches are closed because they’re unsafe for swimming; and many Puget Sound species are listed as threatened or endangered.
Unfortunately, the Sound’s fate is only worsening. We must act now if we want to leave a legacy of a healthy Puget Sound to future generations.
The Partnership’s Action Agenda will prioritize cleanup and improvement projects, coordinate federal, state, local, tribal and private resources, and make sure that we are all working cooperatively. We will base decisions on science, focus on actions that have the biggest impact, and hold people and organizations accountable for results.
The Action Agenda will represent the views of elected and public officials, tribal and business leaders, scientists and, most important, citizens.
For the first time in a generation, the political will to restore Puget Sound’s health exists. This is our last good chance to save Puget Sound.
Bio
Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed David Dicks to serve as the first Executive Director of the new Puget Sound Partnership in August 2007. The Partnership is mobilizing communities, agencies and organizations throughout the Puget Sound region to work together to create a comprehensive Action Agenda to restore Puget Sound.
The Action Agenda will serve as a roadmap for Puget Sound cleanup and protection efforts for years to come. It will tell us what a healthy Puget Sound looks like, and identify and set priorities for what work needs to be accomplished to achieve that. Because the entire region will develop it collaboratively, the Action Agenda will hold everyone accountable for accomplishing our mission of ensuring a clean and healthy Puget Sound. It must be adopted by Sept. 1, 2008.
Prior to his appointment to the Partnership, David was a partner at Cascadia Law Group PLLC, where he focused on Puget Sound issues, natural resource projects and facilitated the development of numerous Habitat Conservation Plans under the Endangered Species Act. He played a significant role in the creation and deliberations of the original Puget Sound Partnership commission, and worked extensively with the Legislature and Governor to pass the new Partnership’s enabling legislation, which took effect July 1, 2007.
David’s dedication to environmental law has earned him national recognition as one of The Best Lawyers in America (2007 and 2008). He has also been recognized as one of Seattle Metropolitan’s 2007 Best Lawyers, and has been named a Rising Star by the readers of Washington Law & Politics magazine every year since 2005.
Dicks received his bachelor of arts with honors from Stanford University, did masters work at the College of Environmental Science Policy and Management at the University of California Berkeley, and received his J.D. and environmental law certificate from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. At Boalt he was a Y. K Kee academic merit fellow, articles editor for the Ecology Law Quarterly, and a founding member of the Boalt Hall Environmental Law Society.
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