• Scale: Attention to an ecosystem scale.
• Collaboration: Emphasis on working across agency jurisdictions.

Transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound began in 1992 when the governor of Washington State and premier of British Columbia signed the Environmental Cooperation Agreement.

The agreement committed the state and province to pursue the following mission:

• Promote and coordinate mutual efforts to ensure the protection, preservation and enhancement of the shared environment for the benefit of current and future generations.

The Statement of Cooperation Working Group that was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada in 2000 established the following three goals:

• Improve functional coordination of transboundary plans and actions.
• Support knowledge and information sharing on transboundary ecosystem issues.
• Promote targeted planning and actions through transboundary demonstration projects that will contribute to positive change in air quality, water quality, habitat and species health.

Lead Organizations

Key Parties

United States

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10
• Puget Sound Partnership
• Native American Tribes

Canada

• Environment Canada Pacific and Yukon regions
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Puget Sound Partnership
• First Nations Bands

The transboundary efforts in the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound ecosystem of the United States and Canada take several shapes, involving mechanisms to share information across federal, state and provincial, and tribal representatives.

Environmental Cooperation Council

A 1992 agreement between Washington State and British Columbia created the Environmental Cooperation Council, which includes the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, Deputy Minister of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, and formal observers from the regional offices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The council establishes and directs the work of task forces focused on a variety of regional and transboundary environmental issues that include the marine environment.

British Columbia-Washington Coastal and Ocean Task Force

In 2007, the Coastal and Ocean Task Force was created to supersede an earlier task force and re-energize high-level efforts to focus on transboundary issues. The new task force was created within the structure and cooperative space of the council. The task force included in its focus area the outer coasts of British Columbia and Washington. Its key goals are to:

• Increase communication between governments on ocean and coastal issues.
• Foster collaborative activities to improve the health of shared marine waters.
• And monitor and report on progress to protect shared marine waters.

The task force, however, has yet to made significant progress, despite creating a three-year work plan.

Statement of Cooperation Working Group

In 2000, the federal agencies who are observers to the council wanted to create a formal relationship. The U.S. EPA and Environment Canada signed an agreement that created the Statement of Cooperation Working Group.

The group meets annually and operates with a two-year work plan. It not affiliated with the council. Representatives include:

• Environment Canada Pacific and Yukon regions
• U.S. EPA Region 10
• Washington Department of Ecology
• Puget Sound Partnership

Coast Salish Gatherings

The 55 British Columbia First Nations and 23 Washington Native American tribes began holding annual gatherings in 2005. The gatherings serve as a forum for the mutual understanding of environmental issues facing the Salish Sea and surrounding lands.

The gatherings allow for discussion among the tribal and First Nations representatives, and officials of the U.S. EPA and Environment Canada.

Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conferences

In the early 1990s, agency-level officials in Washington State and British Columbia raised concerns that the health of the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound ecosystem was declining.

Americans worried that Canada had not made enough progress in stopping the discharges of poorly treated sewage from the cities of Vancouver and Victoria into the marine ecosystem. Canadians were concerned about the potential for oil spills from the large supertankers plying the American side of the border.

Both nations agreed the marine ecosystem is critical to the economy of the region and its population, which relies on the waters for food, shipping, transportation and recreational uses.

In 1991, officials from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Washington Department of Ecology met informally to talk about options to encourage more effective cooperation. The meeting opened channels of cooperation, and made officials aware of an institution gap. Policy-makers and agency officials wanted to create mechanisms that would provide for more than intermittent transboundary connections.

One remedy was the Environmental Cooperation Agreement signed by Washington State and British Columbia in 1992. An Environmental Cooperation Council was created. Since then, other cooperative bodies have been created.

The level of activity and effectiveness of the transboundary efforts have fluctuated over time.

The Ecosystem

The marine ecosystem consists of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Collectively, they are known as the Salish Sea. One of the largest inland seas in the world, the Salish Sea has a surface area of nearly 17,000 square kilometers and a 7,500 kilometer coastline that is shared between Washington State and British Columbia.

The 110,000 square kilometer watershed includes the major cities and surrounding metropolitan areas of Olympia, Seattle and Tacoma in Washington State, and Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia. The population of the area is more than seven million, and is projected to increase to 9.4 million by 2025.

The ecosystem is one of the most ecologically diverse in North America. It includes a variety of coastal and open water habitats that support more than 200 species of fish, 120 species of birds, 20 species of marine mammals, and more than 3,000 species of invertebrates. Culturally iconic species include killer whales, giant Pacific octopus, bald eagles, great blue herons, and Pacific salmon.

Threats

Despite its richness and diversity, the ecosystem is threatened by the following stressors:

• Rapid population growth and unsustainable settlement practices.
• Pollution from shipping, urban agricultural inputs, and sewage.
• Oil spills from tankers traveling the Salish Sea.
• Toxic contamination in sediments and the tissues of biota.
• Overfishing and over-extraction of other marine resources.
• Dredging and development of marine wetlands.
• And the introduction of non-native species.

The primary strategies of the transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound are to build relationships, encourage communication, and share information.

The initiatives work to create an open dialogue, focusing on specific issues in the ecosystem. Agencies use the information that is exchanged and developed to inform their own activities.

Mechanisms include formal and informal meetings, task forces, and working groups.

One strategy receiving attention is the potential expansion of Marine Protected Areas. MPAs were created independently of the transboundary initiatives on either side of the border. A coalition of environmental groups from Washington and British Columbia has proposed an MPA spanning the boundary waters. In 2004, most of the waters on the American side of the border were designated at the county level as a Marine Stewardship Area. The Canadian waters are being studied for inclusion in the Strait of Georgia National Marine Conservation Area.

Monitoring and assessment activities in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound are performed by the respective agencies on either side of the American and Canadian border.

To inform agency activities, a set of transboundary ecosystem indicators was developed.

The indicators consider air quality, population health, urbanization, forest change, solid waste and recycling, water quality of rivers, streams and lakes, and species at risk. Each indicator is monitored by the appropriate agency on either side of the border.

Data is compiled and analyzed to determine the overall status of the indicator.

Increased Awareness

The initiatives have increased awareness of area as a single marine ecosystem. Canada and the United States recently began referring to the area as the Salish Sea, which recognizes the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca as a single system, where the international border is not an ecological border.

Increased Understanding

The initiatives have increased understanding of the ecosystem. The Puget Sound Research Council, for instance, refined its scope to reflect the interconnected nature of the entire marine ecosystem. Participants in the initiatives say they are viewing the ecosystem as a single system on either side of the border.

Building Relationships

Stronger relationships between agencies and individuals on both sides of the border fostered communication beyond formal meetings. Increased communication impacts the actions of agencies and individuals.

The transboundary initiatives in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have been facilitated by key factors, including:

• Legitimacy: The initial Environmental Cooperation Agreement and resulting Environmental Cooperation Council were seen as legitimate. The council had high-visibility buy-in. It was convened by and reports to the governor of Washington State and premier of British Columbia.
• Ecosystem Perspective: Parties from both sides of the border embraced the concept of a single, transboundary ecosystem.
• Regular Events: Holding regular events, such as the Coast Salish Gathering and Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference, kept the lines of communication active and maintained a focus on transboundary efforts during times when individuals on both sides of the border might have emphasized other aspects of their duties.

The transboundary initiatives in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have encountered the following challenges to realizing their conservation goals:

• Funding: Inadequate funding has at times constrained the ability of the transboundary efforts to reach their full potential. Budgetary constraints occasionally dictate the involvement of the participants.
• Data Collection and Analysis: Different methodologies of data collection have caused difficulties in sharing information and developing a full picture of the ecosystem.
• Institutional Differences: Organizational and institutional differences can present challenges to working across national boundaries. U.S. and Canadian agencies operate according to different rules and traditions with regard to the sharing of information with the public, holding public hearings, and their respective relationships between federal authority and state- or provincial-level authorities.
• Different Views of the Problems: Although U.S. and Canadian agencies often agree on problems in the ecosystem, they occasionally share different views of their magnitude.
• Different Priorities: The effectiveness of the transboundary efforts have fluctuated because of shifting priorities within the participating agencies. Political or organizational changes can diminish the effort an agency is willing to devote to transboundary issues.
• Too Much of a Good Thing: The bi-lateral structures of the multiple initiatives overlap, involving the same participants. Multiple sets of meetings demand more staff time and resources.
• Formality of Structure: The Environmental Cooperation Council was effective in opening lines of communication and building relationships. Then it suffered as the formal meetings became less necessary for transboundary collaboration.
• Losing Key Individuals: Much of the success of the initiatives can be attributed to individuals who were committed to their success. A loss of a key person can result in a lack of consistency in the operation of the initiative and conservation efforts can slow or stall.

People involved with the transboundary efforts in Georgia Basin-Puget Sound have learned:

• People and Relationships Matter: Developing relationships takes time but the payoff is big.
• Start Small: An organic beginning can allow parties to develop a fundamental sense of a common issue, providing a solid foundation for next steps.
• Get the Governance Right: Getting the institutional structure or mechanisms correct is really important even if it takes time.
• Be Careful of Overlapping Processes: Having too many bi-lateral processes can result in diluting the effectiveness of individual initiatives.
• Be Clear About the Problem: A clear definition of the problem is crucial in setting up an effective initiative.

Bi-Annual Georgia Basin Puget Sound Ecosystem Conference: http://depts.washington.edu/uwconf/psgb/index.html