Erika Lundahl
Just in time for Earth Day, a new photo exhibit from Braided River is launching in celebration of the stunning Salish Sea.
In early April Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, partnered with Washington Environmental Council and The Seattle Aquarium to launch the awe-inspiring, curated traveling photo exhibit We Are Puget Sound. The exhibit will be available at the Seattle Aquarium through August 2021, and will tour around the Salish Sea in 2021 and 2022.
Based off a book and campaign launched last year and long-delayed due to COVID-19, the We Are Puget Sound exhibit features captivating photography and stories from around our region designed to spark collective and personal action to restore Puget Sound for generations to come.
“We’re so proud to bring forth this diverse array of images and stories that showcase the region’s beauty and diversity - and also inspires action to preserve it for future generations.” Says Helen Cherullo, Executive Director of Braided River. “The ‘We’ of We Are Puget Sound is all of us working together to bring our unique gifts to the table and finding solutions to make the sound a healthy, intact ecosystem that all can enjoy and prosper from.”
The Puget Sound region is the lifeblood for urban and rural communities in British Columbia, Washington State, and 50+ Tribal Nations and First Nations that rely on economic opportunities, cultural significance, and a high quality of life defined by this rich inland sea. This astonishingly beautiful waterway surrounded by mountains and forests also supports resident and migrating marine life - notably two iconic, interdependent endangered species: southern resident orcas and Chinook salmon.
Photo by Drew Collins.
But Puget Sound’s cherished natural beauty conceals its rapidly deteriorating health after a century and a half of resource extraction, pollution, habitat loss, and impacts from climate change and development. Recovering Puget Sound and the broader Salish Sea, essential for the survival of all the human, plant, and animal communities that rely upon it, requires collaboration, innovation, and a long-term commitment.
“We are thrilled to work with the Washington Environmental Council and Braided River to host this inspiring photo exhibit,” said Robert W. Davidson, President and CEO of the Seattle Aquarium. “It will be a great complement to the guest experience at the Seattle Aquarium, and a tremendous support to our mission of inspiring conservation of our marine environment.”
Puget Sound Protectors featured (left to right): Tahmina Martelly, Sally Brownfield, Kyle Peterson. Photos by Brian Walsh.
“My involvement in We Are Puget Sound is to provide inspiration as well as a call to action to protect this unique ecosystem.”
-Brian Walsh, contributing photographer
Puget Sound is a place where freshwater streams and rivers mix with the sea. Puget Sound is a magnificent and intricate estuary, the very core of life in Western Washington. Yet it’s also a place of broader significance: rivers rush from the Cascade and Olympic mountains and Canada’s coastal ranges through varied watersheds to feed the Sound, which forms the southern portion of a complex, international ecosystem known as the Salish Sea.
See the Exhibit
To see the We Are Puget Sound photo exhibit, as well as sea otters, harbor seals, river otters, jellies, shorebirds, fish, and more at the Seattle Aquarium, visit SeattleAquarium.org/tickets. Open daily, 9:30am–6pm. Advance ticket purchase and masks required.
This exhibit was created by Braided River and Washington Environmental Council, and hosted by The Seattle Aquarium.
Artful engagement campaigns like this one are made possible by philanthropic support. Support for this exhibit has been graciously provided by the James Lea Foundation. Please reach out to erikal@mountaineersbooks.org to learn how you can support conservation impact campaigns like this one.
