On May 8, People For Puget Sound this welcomed supporters at its New Day For Puget Sound fundraising breakfast in Seattle. Honored were San Juan Island Orca scientist Ken Balcomb, SCUBA diving activist Bruce Higgins, and fish biologist and activist Sam Wright.

Highlighting the third annual event was a keynote address by former Secretary of the Interior and Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt and awarding of the Warren G. Magnuson Puget Sound Legacy Award for outstanding work done on behalf of marine life.

In his keynote address, Babbitt described the work underway to protect and restore the Sound as the “last, best” hope to set an example for the rest of the country to show how people, fish, water and land can come together.

Unlike Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay, “Puget Sound is still blessed with a functioning ecology,” he said. While that ecology is in danger of failing and there are many obstacles to its recovery, it is the last functioning estuary in North America.

According to Babbitt, the state’s commitment in establishing the Puget Sound Partnership was a key step in recognizing the problems. The main challenge will be to coordinate and integrate land use planning across Puget Sound.

People For Puget Sound has an essential role in building public support. “It has to be on all fronts—economic, social, spiritual—if we are to live in harmony with nature and preserve this place’s future for us and generations to come,” he said.

In receiving his Magnuson Award for his work to protect the whales, Orca scientist Ken Balcomb asked, “How does our government really work? We need to get the government to make major changes in dealing with human population growth and resource management.”

“It’s not just me, it’s a team effort,” said SCUBA diving activist Bruce Higgins honored for is work with volunteers in creating the Edmonds Underwater Park. “We don’t’ have an office and a phone, our meetings are held as we snorkel out from shore. That separates out the doers from the talkers.”

“Rockfish are very special fish that have the capability of living as long as human beings,” said fish biologist Sam Wright in a statement read at the event. “When rockfish are harvested, it is like cutting an old growth forest. They can only be restored by complete protection for a long period of time [using] Marine Protected Areas…[and] through management…under the Endangered Species Act.”

A new video produced by People For Puget Sound, “Saving Puget Sound: A Call to Action,” was also debuted at the breakfast.