Monday August 18, 2025
The Olympian —
Native bull kelp forests in the Puget Sound have been steadily disappearing for decades. According to recent studies, there was an 80% loss of native kelp between 2013 and 2024.
Around Squaxin Island, where the southernmost kelp forest used to be found, the plants were virtually undocumented in 2025, suggesting the once-expansive marine habitat may be lost forever.
But now that’s about to change.
DNR’s Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove met with Squaxin Island Tribe chairman Kris Peters this month in Arcadia to sign an order creating the Squaxin Island Kelp Protection Zone, in an effort to bring the kelp bed and others around Puget Sound back to full health.
The order was the first from Upthegrove as the Commissioner of Public Lands. The plan was mandated by the Washington Legislature in 2022, requiring the DNR to identify at least 10,000 acres of priority native kelp and eelgrass habitat for conservation and recovery.
The protection zone around Squaxin Island is at least 500 acres and is the first habitat identified under the Statewide Kelp Forest and Eelgrass Meadow Health and Conservation Plan.
Establishing the protection zone will ultimately forestall any commercial development around the kelp bed and target conservation and recovery efforts.
Peters said kelp is important to the tribe, but it’s something he thinks most people aren’t thinking about when it comes to environmental health. He said his legacy depends on ensuring future generations have access to their language, culture, salmon, fresh air and water.
“It’s not even about me, it’s about them, and that’s what we need to think about when we’re talking about climate and climate resilience and climate justice,” he said. “We get too caught up in the individualistic way of life.”
According to the DNR, the Squaxin Island kelp forest provides critical habitat for salmon, rockfish and other marine species. Historically, the kelp forest extended up both east and west sides of the island. Now, sparse plants can only be found at the southern point of the island, if any at all.
Peters said he always speaks to the beauty of kelp.
“It is an absolutely magnificent, beautiful plant species,” he said. “It is a forest underwater, and it is so gorgeous and does so many things. I equate it to like an old growth forest under the sea, and the ecosystem of which it supports is massive.”
He said all the work that’s happening around climate change and preventing the extinction of salmon and orca species is great, but if the kelp dies completely, it’s going to be detrimental.
“It’ll kill off so many other species, including our salmon, our orca, us,” Peters said. “The economy isn’t going to matter. It’s going to have a negative effect on all of us. I don’t care what political party you are part of. I don’t care what you stand for. If we’re not doing everything we can right now to save this kelp, it’s not going to matter.”
Peters said it’s going to take more than the boots-on-the-ground work the tribe and DNR are doing to keep the kelp from disappearing forever.
“It’s up to us as a commissioner, politicians, those of us that are here in front of the camera speaking, we have to tell people how important this is,” he said.
He said it’s important to educate people across the state on the benefits of kelp, and how beautiful of a resource it is.
“We can’t allow it to die. We just can’t. We don’t have that choice,” he said.
Peters said his family grew up on a piece of property not far from the kelp beds. He said his father taught him and his brother how to drive a boat at age 5, how to navigate the waters and the importance of stewardship and salmon.
He said he remembers his dad always telling them if they were going to boat around Squaxin Island, take the south side wide to protect the kelp beds.
“They’ve been here longer than we have,” he said. “We want them to continue to be here.”
A resilient species
Peters’ brother Joseph, who’s the Natural Resources policy representative for the tribe, said in the past 50 years he’s watched the kelp bed get smaller and smaller.
“There’s nothing,” he said. “There’s hardly anything out there, and then sadly to say that the wild stocks have diminished, and we’re hoping they’ll return, because they’re resilient. They really are resilient species.”
Joseph said he’s also part of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund board, and with their help, alongside the DNR and tribal efforts, he thinks they can help the kelp bed grow back.
“As the chairman said, we can’t do this by ourselves,” he said. “We need help.”
Upthegrove said orca, king salmon and Chinook salmon are icons that define who Washington is as a state and as a people. He said the future of those icons depends upon a healthy and clean Puget Sound, and increasingly, scientists have made clear the critical role played by kelp forests and eel grass meadows.
He said the Squaxin Island site will be the first acres protected under a commitment the DNR has made to identify and take action steps to protect 10,000 acres of kelp forests and eel grass meadows. A number of priority areas were identified, including Squaxin Island, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Grays Harbor.
He said the first site is fitting for the program because it’s in trouble. The DNR has been monitoring the area since 2013 and has seen a rapid decline in bull kelp, which he said is an emergency.
“This year, we don’t see any out there at all,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it can’t come back, but this site’s important because of the decline we’ve seen. It’s also important because this is far away from the ocean down in the southern tip, and it has additional stressors, and it makes it more challenging.”
According to the DNR, warm water temperatures are a main driving factor for the decline in marine habitat, especially in the South Puget Sound. Other potential causes of bull kelp loss include low water clarity, low genetic diversity, limited reproduction success, damage from kelp crabs and competition with invasive species and other seaweeds.
The tribe and Puget Sound Restoration Fund initiated efforts to restore the kelp bed with enhancement lines of reproductive kelp. Some planted kelp was seen on the south end of the island, and the hope is it will re-seed the forest for next year.
“I want the next generation to have these same opportunities that I’ve had growing up,” Upthegrove said. “My cultural connection is almost insignificant relative to the history that indigenous people have had with this land. My history goes back a short time. Since time immemorial, a healthy Puget Sound has been integrated into the fabric of life of the people who’ve inhabited these areas, and that’s why this partnership is so important.”