Introduction
August 2005

The Puget Sound Action Team (Action Team) and the Georgia Basin Action Plan (GBAP) partners are pleased to provide you with the Proceedings of the 2005 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference.

On March 29-31, 850 scientists, First Nations and Tribal government representatives, resource managers, community leaders, policy makers, educators and students convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. to share science and information about the condition and management of the shared Puget Sound Georgia Basin ecosystem.

The 2005 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference titled "Science for the Salish Sea: A Sense of Place, A Sense of Change" is the region's largest and most visible effort to communicate research on the condition of the Puget Sound Georgia Basin, and the premier opportunity for participants to share successes and challenges in the restoration and protection of the Puget Sound Georgia Basin region. Conference themes included:
(1) Science to define and understand the shared Puget Sound Georgia Basin transboundary region - it's structure, function, traditional and societal characteristics; and,
(2) Using science and traditional knowledge to address the changes facing the transboundary Puget Sound Georgia Basin ecosystem.

The conference program included approximately 300 technical papers, 100 posters, a Poster Gala featuring Pearl Django, a local Seattle gypsy-swing band, panel presentations, workshops and keynote speakers and an evening public session where local politicians and scientists discussed linkages between science and policy implementation.

The conference co-chairs thank the Action Team and GBAP Staff, in particular TC Christian, Gigi Williams, Sande Petkau, Stephanie Sylvestre, Jennifer Alderson and Adam Keizer for their tireless assistance with conference planning. A warm thank-you as well to Dr. Jan Newton (UW Applied Physics Laboratory), Ann Lesperance (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), and Peter Ronald (Georgia Strait Alliance). We appreciate the talents of Jan Kvamme and Debra Bryant (Engineering Professional Programs at the University of Washington) for their exceptional conference planning efforts. Finally, a special thanks goes to the Conference Advisory Committee and the many generous co-sponsors on both sides of the border.

About the files
The proceedings papers, abstracts, transcripts of keynote addresses, session summaries and author biographies are in Portable Document Format (PDF). To view these files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 5.0 or newer recommended).

How to find a paper
You may access proceedings' papers in two ways:

• Session name: "Oral Presentations" or "Poster Presentations" from the left sidebar menu. Links to papers and abstracts are organized by session.
  
• Author name: "Author Biographies" from the left sidebar menu.

The editorial/publication process
A peer review process is not a part of the material collected in these proceedings. The graphics and references in these papers appear as they were originally submitted by the authors. If you have difficulty viewing the graphics, please contact the author for a higher quality graphic. If a manuscript or extended abstract was not submitted for publication in the Proceedings, a short abstract is included. Author contact information and web links were current at the time presenters provided their information. Please contact the author if you have difficulty linking to a web resource. We encourage you to contact the authors/presenters for further information and updates on any of the material presented in the proceedings.

2005 PSGB Research Conference Proceedings CD
Copies of the 2005 PSGB Research Conference Proceedings may be purchased for $15 from the Puget Sound Action Team. Please contact Gigi Williams (gwilliams@psat.wa.gov; 360-725-5454) to order a CD.

Further information
If you are interested in further information on the shared Georgia Basin-Puget Sound ecosystem we encourage you to visit the conference hosts via their web sites:

Puget Sound Action Team: www.psat.wa.gov
Georgia Basin Action Plan: www.pyr.ec.gc.ca/georgiabasin/

Proceedings updates and links to past Research Conference Proceedings are available from the Puget Sound Action Team website.