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Message from the Director
Message from the Director
Ted Sturdevant, Ecology Director
Conversations on Washington's Future
April 17, 2012
In December, Governor Gregoire launched the Washington Shellfish Initiative to protect and restore Washington’s shellfish and promote “clean water” jobs. A panel — the first of its kind in the nation has formed to focus on a problem that is impacting Washington now, and will do so into the foreseeable future: the growing acidity of our marine and coastal waters. Its purpose of the panel is to develop recommendations on what our state can do to respond to ocean acidification and reduce its harmful effects on Washington’s ecosystem and economy.
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August 2011
The Department of Ecology plays an important role in protecting Washington’s quality of life in the 21st century. Balancing the needs of a growing population with the value Washingtonians place on natural resources is a big job in the best of times — and these are not the best of times. Washington is working its way out of the global recession, and we face ongoing, unresolved challenges to our natural resources — challenges we must meet in order to secure a high quality of life for the century ahead.
Providing clean, abundant water for farms and people and our endangered salmon . . . protecting people and the environment from toxic threats . . . these are just two examples of challenges we face in moving toward economic, community and environmental health.
While I am optimistic that solutions are possible, and that a sustainable quality of life is something we can attain, I’m also realistic about the job ahead. Success is by no means assured, but with our quality of life at stake, failure is not an option.
It will take continued regulation and continued investment, but more fundamentally it will take willpower and collaboration. We have to come together, again and again, to find the solutions that will protect Washington’s quality of life — environmental, economic and social — for our generation and those to come.
We all have a part in deciding what Washington’s future, and our quality of life, will be.
In Washington, we have a rich tradition of finding broadly supported solutions where everyone wins — where the needs of communities and families, the economy and businesses, and of our natural ecosystems are met. If we as a state insist on this path, we will succeed in securing a great quality of life for the century ahead.
Like other Ecology employees, I’m proud to be a part of this work with so many other citizens of our state.
Find out more about Protecting Washington’s Quality of Life in the 21st Century.
See Ecology's mission statement (PDF).
See previous messages from the director.
