Puget Sound Institute

05/19/2026

PSI's Michael Kern will be team teaching a course on Collaborative Leadership with Zoe Barsness of the UW Tacoma Milgard School of Business as part of the Collaborative Leadership Program at the UW Puget Sound Institute.

The course is open to both undergraduates and graduates as well as non-matriculated students; will provide public, private, and civic sector perspectives on Puget Sound protection and restoration; and offers an opportunity to earn four or five credits in just one month over three in-person Saturdays and three online Tuesday evenings.

If you are interested, or can help spread the word, please check out and/or repost the info below.

Develop your collaborative leadership skills this summer!
The Milgard School of Business is offering T BUS 490/TBUS 590 Collaborative Leadership during Summer Session A (June 22–July 22, 2026).

This hybrid course explores the theory and practice of leading across organizational, cultural, and political boundaries. Through case studies, guest speakers, and applied group projects, you'll learn how Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest leaders address complex environmental and natural resource management challenges.

Course Details:
📅 June 22–July 22
🖥️ Remote: Tuesday evenings
🏫 In-person: Saturdays (June 23, 27, 29 and July 11, 14, 18)
⏰ Enrollment deadline: Friday, June 19

Whether you work in public, private, nonprofit, or tribal sectors—or aspire to—this course will equip you to build and sustain effective cross-sector partnerships and drive collective impact.

Access students are also welcome!
Learn more: https://www.pugetsoundinstitute.org/collaboration/collaborative-leadership-program/

05/14/2026

What a night! Seabirds Live! brought together seabirds, science, and a packed house. Eric Wagner read from Seabirds as Sentinels:

"I work myself deeper into the rocks. The sun is gone, the wind rises, and Destruction Island resounds with the songs of besotted auklets: waa-waaaaaa-waa, waa-waaaaaa-waa. Lying on my back on the beach, letting their songs wash over me, it is easy to believe––to know––that thousands of birds live on these bluffs all around me."

We also learned that rhinoceros auklets are, genetically speaking, actually puffins. Thank you to Eric Wagner, Peter Hodum, and Jeff Rice for a memorable evening — and to everyone who joined us. Thanks also to our sponsors: University of Washington Tacoma, University of Puget Sound, University of Washington Press, and King's Books in Tacoma.

05/06/2026

Author Eric Wagner and seabird biologist Peter Hodum in conversation about what seabirds are telling us about the health of the Salish Sea. Hosted by Jeff Rice. Field photos and audio from Destruction Island. Books available for purchase on site, book raffle, and a signing with Wagner.

FREE — seating is limited. Tickets are going fast. Get yours→ https://tinyurl.com/SeabirdsLive

Sponsored by the University of Washington Tacoma, University of Puget Sound, University of Washington Press, and King's Books in Tacoma.

04/27/2026

Meet one of our featured guests at Seabirds Live! Peter Hodum is a seabird biologist and conservation ecologist with over 30 years of experience studying threatened birds and island ecosystems, including tufted puffins. A professor at the University of Puget Sound, he'll join author Eric Wagner on stage on May 13 at UW Tacoma for a live multimedia conversation about what seabirds are telling us about the health of the Salish Sea. FREE event. Register → https://tinyurl.com/SeabirdsLive
Puffin photo: Peter Hodum

Sponsors: University of Washington Tacoma University of Puget Sound University of Washington Press and King's Books in Tacoma

04/22/2026

The International Space Station crew got the wide shot. We're focused on what's in it — and everyone who calls it home. Happy Earth Day.

04/21/2026

“To study rhinoceros auklets, and especially their ecology, is to study the fish they need in order to live. Really I am a fish scientist, even if I cannot bring myself to admit it.”

That's author Eric Wagner in Seabirds as Sentinels — and it cuts to the heart of why these birds matter. Every night during breeding season, auklets return to Destruction Island under cover of darkness with bills full of fish for the single chick waiting deep in the burrow. The data scientists gather from these birds — what they eat, when they arrive, whether they successfully raise a chick — reveals a great deal about the state of the sea in any given year. The auklet, it turns out, is an ecosystem sentinel.

Hear the full story at Seabirds Live! — a FREE multimedia event on May 13 at UW Tacoma. Register → https://tinyurl.com/SeabirdsLive Photos: Peter Hodum

Sponsors: University of Washington Tacoma, University of Puget Sound, University of Washington Press, and King's Books in Tacoma.

04/14/2026

What does seabird research look like in the field? Sometimes like this. Researchers Scott Pearson (Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife) and Tom Good (NOAA Fisheries West Coast) lie flat on Destruction Island, using infrared cameras to peer inside rhinoceros auklet burrows — which can run several yards deep with forking tunnels and multiple nest chambers. A T-shirt draped over the head keeps out excess light. It's painstaking, skillful work — and it's exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes science you'll hear about at Seabirds Live! on May 13 at UW Tacoma. Register for this FREE event → https://tinyurl.com/SeabirdsLive-May13

Sponsored by: University of Washington Tacoma University of Puget Sound King's Books University of Washington Press

Photo: Eric Wagner

04/08/2026

“Trust Eric Wagner to see the poetry in science" That's how author Michelle Nijhuis describes Seabirds as Sentinels, Eric Wagner's new book about the seabirds of Washington's remote Protection and Destruction Islands — and what they're telling us about the health of our oceans. Hear Wagner discuss it live at Seabirds Live! — a FREE multimedia event on May 13 at UW Tacoma. Register: https://tinyurl.com/SeabirdsLive-May13

Sponsored by: University of Washington Tacoma University of Puget Sound University of Washington Press and King's Books

04/08/2026

We recently collaborated with the Cascadia Research Collective to publish a comprehensive overview of the status and trends for gray whales in the Salish Sea. Learn about the natural history of our local grays, including detailed accounts of our most famous spring visitors, the Sounders.

OverviewGray whales are among the more commonly sighted large whale species in the Salish Sea and along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, but a clearer understanding of the multiple ways they use our waters has only come into focus in recent years. Gray whales were historically mostly known for th...

03/31/2026

36 years of photo-monitoring after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Salish Sea Science Roundtable | Tuesday, April 14 | 12:30 - 1:30

Join Gary Shigenaka and Alan Mearns (NOAA, retired) to explore more than three decades of shoreline photo-monitoring after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. Using standardized photo points and percent-cover estimates, they track multi-decade changes in foundational intertidal species across oiled shorelines, oiled set-asides, and control sites. Valerie Chu will also share how her own pilgrimage to Mearns Rock is continuing the essential volunteer role of revisiting photo sites—while also reinvigorating her personally.

Roundtables occur virtually on the second Tuesday of each month as a way to share emerging science that is shaping Salish Sea ecosystem recovery.

This event is free however registration is required→
https://www.pugetsoundinstitute.org/april-14-roundtable-highlights-36-years-of-repeated-photo-monitoring-after-the-exxon-valdez-oil-spill/

03/31/2026

What can one of the world's largest gatherings of rhinoceros auklets tell us about the health of the Salish Sea? Find out at Seabirds Live! — a free multimedia event on May 13 at UW Tacoma. Author and scientist Eric Wagner joins seabird biologist Peter Hodum for an on-stage conversation featuring original photos and field recordings, plus a signing of Eric's new book Seabirds as Sentinels. Free to attend — register here → https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seabirds-live-tickets-1985747256499

Thanks to our sponsors University of Washington Tacoma, University of Washington Press, University of Puget Sound, and King's Books in Tacoma.

Join seabird biologist Peter Hodum and author Eric Wagner to discover what seabirds reveal about the health of the Salish Sea