17. When a Border Divides an Ecosystem, w/ Ginny Broadhurst

Pod of Orcas

The Salish Sea is a natural ecosystem that happens to be split horizontally down the middle by the US / Canada border—an invisible barrier that is of course not recognized by wild species.

Conservation of the ecosystem involves levels of government in two countries along with Tribes and First Nations on both sides of the border.

Ginny Broadhurst is founding Director of the Salish Sea Institute at Western Washington University. One of her overarching goals is to try and erase that border in people’s minds as they go about their work so that the focus remains fixed on the ecosystem. She’s pretty great at it. Find more info here: salishsea.wwu.edu

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RESOURCES:

The Governance paper that explains the complexity of Salish Sea governance: https://cedar.wwu.edu/salish_pubs/33/

The 1992 Environmental Cooperation Agreement between BC and WA - an excellent illustration of recognizing shared environmental threats and the need to cooperate on solutions: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/natural-resource-policy-legislation/environmental-policy/bcwaccord.pdf

Stefan Freelan's map of the Salish Sea: https://salishsea.wwu.edu/salish-sea-surrounding-basin

Aquila Flower's Salish Sea atlas: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/74685f3da4f9411f9746a5f34c6f4312