The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of a five-year effort to catalogue the woes of the Puget Sound ecosystem, gathering information for what could become an undertaking as grand in size as the $8 billion Everglades restoration project. Many of the 2,354 miles of the sound’s seashore, containing tide flats, marshes, and bluffs, are under assault. Millions of gallons of human waste drain into the sound each year and pollution is contaminating countless species, from mussels to killer whales. In all, 70 percent of sound’s wetlands and estuaries have been lost to development. Environmentalists are more used to fighting the Army Corps than working with it, but some think the agency may now be the sound’s best hope. Kathy Fletcher, executive director of the environmental group People for Puget Sound, says, “I have a long history of being hard on the corps, but if you want something done, you have to involve the agency that has the history and wherewithal to pull off big projects.”
