Why state is working to save its kelp, seagrass forests

By Ian Giancarlo / For The Herald

A year ago, The Daily Herald wrote about Washington’s plan to protect and preserve kelp and seagrass (“A scramble to save Puget Sound’s precious kelp and eelgrass,” The Herald, April, 10). At some level, it’s a below-the-surface topic, but if we get it right, this conservation effort will do far more than protect this ocean plant.

Growing up in a small town in rural Connecticut, I was surrounded by dense terrestrial forests lush with pine trees, maple trees and plenty of squirrels. Back then, if you asked me to picture a forest, that would have been it.

I would never have thought to consider marine forests full of kelp, seagrasses and seals as forests. But they are, and these underwater forests are ecologically valuable to our state.

Swaying gracefully beneath the ocean waves are kelp forests, vast fields of towering plants that can grow more than a foot each day and stretch from the seabed to the surface. These underwater thickets, found along the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, provide food and habitats for wildlife such as sea otters, seals and octopuses.

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