The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest

The Salish Sea is the unique marine ecosystem encompassing the coastal waters from Seattle’s Puget Sound up to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Georgia Strait of British Columbia. This beautiful book combines dramatic photographs and compelling stories of the wide variety of wildlife that live in this wondrous watery world.

Fashioned by the violent volcanism of the Pacific Rim of Fire, plate tectonics, and the sculptural magic wrought by Ice Age glaciers, the Salish Sea straddles the western border between Canada and the United States and is connected to the Pacific Ocean primarily through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This wondrous watery world has its beginnings high in the landscape, where rivulets of melting snow nourish the cascading streams, rivers, and mountains that surround it. The Salish Sea is fed by the almost constant influx of freshwater from British Columbia’s Fraser River and thousands of smaller rivers and streams on both sides of the border. The mixing of freshwater and salt water provides the essential building blocks for the region’s extraordinary biodiversity. This fascinating visual journey through the Salish Sea combines a scientist’s inquiring mind, dramatic photographs, and a lively narrative of compelling stories, all of which impart a sense of wonder for this intricate marine ecosystem and the life that it sustains.