- So I wanted to try and find a more holistic way
to help salmon by just helping waterways in general.
- They kayak along Puget Sound shorelines to track the effects of climate change
and human encroachment.
See what it takes to map 2500 miles in a kayak,
then.
Families honoring loved ones on the water in a deeply personal way.
See how many are taking advantage of this incredible service aboard Washington
State Ferries - You develop this sense where you trust
the water - And swimming in Puget Sound year round.
It's cold, but this group of swimmers loves the challenge.
These stories and more.
Next on CityStream.
Hi, I'm Michael Crowe.
Welcome to CityStream from the Washington
state ferry Walla Walla on a rainy crossing of Puget Sound.
First, some local history.
Puget sound was formed more than 16,000 years ago by glaciers.
The ice carved out the harbors and now underwater valleys in some places.
Over 900ft deep.
Humans have been here at least 12,000 years.
Now known as the Coast Salish peoples.
They called these waters Whulge in the Lushootseed.
Essentially sea or saltwater.
Puget sound gets its modern name from British sailor Peter Puget,
a lieutenant on the Vancouver Expedition in the late 1700s.
As early white settlers and explorers followed, their tall ships
took advantage of the deep harbors and abundant natural resources.
Much as we do to this day.
Now that's just a brief history of this waterway we call home.
From an environmental standpoint.
Puget sound is a complex, ever changing ecosystem home to many species,
from whales and salmon to kelp microorganisms and, of course, us.
But today, more than ever, our impact leaves a lasting mark
on this region, and not always for the better.
Brian Footen and the EarthViews Conservation Society decided
to do something about this by mapping all of Puget Sound shorelines by kayak.
And as producer Randy Eng explains, their goal is to create a visual baseline
that shows how our actions impact the sound now and into the future.
- From the most fundamental standpoint,
without healthy waterways, we can't exist.
We're interconnected with everything that lives in the water.
So without protecting and doing the most we can to help
those other animals and plants thrive.
We're not going to thrive.
I wanted to try and find a more holistic way
to help salmon by just helping
waterways in general.
So a series of events, I was able to connect with some friends
and start a business called Earth Views, took imagery
that were utilized by agencies to help better understand the conditions
of the habitat and the areas that they were trying to restore and protect.
And when Covid hit, everything stopped.
And so at that point, I decided to just
throw a camera on my kayak and start mapping the shoreline
of Puget Sound.
At that point, I stepped away
from the company EarthViews and started EarthViews Conservation Society.
And during that period, some folks here in Washington state had taken
what I was doing up to sound and created a bill in the Senate to have surface
level 360 imagery taken for the entire Puget Sound every two years.
The bill finally passed in March of 2023.
First round of mapping that we did over 2500 miles of the shoreline
of Puget Sound.
And when I say mapping, we utilize
a 360 camera on a kayak
eight feet off the water of the camera, takes a picture every 10 seconds.
And then with our software, we stitch those pictures together in a way
that allows you to click
through the imagery as you would if you were doing street views.
We're not just flying by in a helicopter, because none of that creates
the intimate experience.
When you're able to navigate in the Streetview style sense.
And that's really important for us.
We want people to have an intuitive experience
when they come to our maps,
because it's not just agencies and scientists who are using this,
and it's also really important for everyday folks
to just be able to go out and experience the waterway.
And it's crazy that we've had somebody that's gone around the whole Sound.
This is absolutely ground breaking, the awesome in this day and age.
If you want to know at my core why I do it, it's because
it's really peaceful to be on the water.
It resonates with my soul.
As soon as I sit down in the kayak or get on the boat
and start getting out on the water, and then my happiest place.
A lot of times people are like, oh,
I wish I had your job. You.
At the time, I think, yeah, I have this great job.
This is wonderful.
But then, you know, six hours later when I'm, like, all stiff
and trying to get out of the kayak.
And then I stood at a haul it up to the truck and tied down and drive back.
I was still four hours away from home in my bed.
Anything good you know that's worth doing usually requires a lot of work and.
And this certainly does.
It's a monumental task.
I'm not doing it by myself.
Obviously, we have a crew of 3 to 5 people.
We drop people off.
They map for, about ten miles or anywhere from 4 to 6 hours.
We have to do this
between the exact right tide window without wind.
That's over ten miles an hour.
And without any rain over the course of any given survey period.
On average, we're going to have about 230 workable days.
Hazards under the water are many.
There's all kinds of rocks and hazards.
Poke up out of the water that you have to be able to see.
Oh oh.
That will not be the last time we get ground.
So you're constantly avoiding hazards.
The kayak, you know, the bounces off of them.
Well, when you run in the prop, it's a constant stress all day.
You're just looking over the bow,
waiting for the next drop, the next hazard to ruin your day.
Make sure it's there.
Make sure that the GPS information is there.
Bonus.
The data is good.
This data has become really important for
lots of folks who are working to restore and recover Puget Sound.
- There's so much data to find in there.
We're going to see places
that are burdened by industrial pollution, and we're going to see derelict vessels.
We're going to see
floating docks based on styrofoam straight out of the 80s and the 70s.
We're going to see places that have threats from armoring.
- One of the reasons bank armoring is a big problem
is because it intercepts the water land interface.
When the water interacts with the logs, it's important habitat for fish.
The sand on the beach is replenished by being eroded off the cliffs.
Eliminate that interface.
The habitat disappears.
The sand erodes away.
The herring no longer have spawning beds.
The eelgrass doesn't have a place to grow.
All you have is rocks and barnacles, and you can see that along many areas of
Puget Sound.
People don't connect to charts and graphs.
The way they connect to actually seeing what the problems are.
- Getting eyes on the waterfront is one of the most fundamental
things that we can do to help connect people with their waterways,
whether it's every two years or whether it's every two months.
We need more of this information out there.
I don't want Brian to step foot on land again
until he retires because this work must continue.
- That's why I'm out here. That's the answer.
You know, I'm out here to show people.
Hopefully the people see.
Where the problems are and where the goodness is.
- This is the kind of adventure that I think reconnects a community,
a sound wide community to our waters.
You know, we we have a saying that says see it, protect it.
Right?
And we believe wholeheartedly that if you don't have an attachment
to Puget Sound, if you come on this map and you start exploring,
you're going to want to have a greater connection to Puget Sound.
Maybe it'll get you to get a kayak, maybe to get you to go to the beach more.
You nurture that connection.
Then we get back to answering your question about why.
Why will people care?
Maybe they'll start to care once they form some kind of intimate connection
with the waterway.
- To put the crews
achievement into perspective, if you have a 2500 miles
in a straight line from Seattle, you'd end up well past Chicago.
If you'd like to learn more about Earth Views Conservation society or explore
some of their 360 degree maps, visit Earth View Society dot org.
Up next, it's a unique service offered by the Washington State Ferries,
and it's deeply appreciated by those who take advantage of it.
We'll explain after the break.
- We are the everyday storytellers of this great city.
We are Seattle Channel, a
gateway to everything Seattle.
The intersection between government, culture, news
and the ever unfolding story of the city we call home.
So follow your curiosity
and come explore Seattle with us.
The Seattle Channel.
- Welcome back to City Stream.
Coming to you from the middle of Puget Sound aboard the ferry Walla Walla.
The Washington State
Ferries are an integral part of existence for so many people in the Seattle area,
connecting Puget Sound for the day to day happenings of our lives.
But these vessels are also host to another milestone a way
for people to celebrate their connection to Puget Sound at the end of life.
Recently, I have the honor of joining a family on one of those final ferry rides
to say goodbye.
How many hours of your life
have you spent waiting for a ferry?
How many times have you crossed Puget Sound?
It is an inevitable truth that eventually there will be a last time.
- I’ve known him since 1980.
- And someday your family and friends will gather to say goodbye.
- We go on family vacations with them and so forth, mostly boating.
- Jerry Layton is talking about his friend Larry Weise,
who passed away in February at the age of 81.
A husband and father, Larry, lived so many moments of his life
out on the water, surrounded by those he loved.
- I guess I have to say hello to people.
- Israel Ortiz is married to Larry's youngest daughter, Shelly.
He's brought all these folks
together at the Bremerton Ferry dock for a final voyage
to the place Larry loved the most.
- Larry was a what we call a water man.
So he loved you know, just part of the country.
He was born and raised in West Seattle.
And the summers he just spent it, you know, out in the water
and stuff like that.
We're doing the burial here at sea.
- They're able to do that
thanks to a unique program on the Washington State Ferries.
Families can apply for a permit to lay a loved one,
to rest on many of the routes that cross the sound.
There are about 200 ceremonies every year.
Zale Noah helps coordinate them.
- Ferries serve communities and our community members are just
the lifeblood of the ferry system.
So being able to offer services for people that feel so connected
to the ferries in the Puget Sound is, you know, the least we could do.
Offering these sort of programs keeps our customer base coming back
to us, trusting us, and knowing that,
you know, they're connected to the ferry systems from start to finish.
- There is a $150 administrative fee.
Noah says it's standardizes a process.
Some private companies were offering.
- People send messages after the fact just thanking for the service
being offered, and I really enjoyed connecting
and talking to people about why it's special to them in the first place.
- Back with the Ortiz and Wiese family.
The group approaches West
Seattle, sharing memories with Larry's wife Diana along the way.
- Oh, tremendous.
You know, and everybody that care for him and you, they're all here.
You think about it.
- Just off Alki point.
The noise of the engines fades, and it's time a crew member removes
the rope at the back of the boat, and everyone gathers for some final words.
Then Larry is returned to the waters he loved by his daughter, Shelly.
- The idea is to place him in his place of birth,
and he grew up and spent, you know, his adult life.
And he's back to resting in that location.
- Bye dad.
- Bon voyage.
- Sinking beneath
the waves of Puget Sound one last time.
- Yeah, he went out with a splash.
And that's how he used to joke about that, because he was he was a big guy.
And every time he jump in the water, he made a big splash.
- You know, the horn in the ferry boat blew.
I think he really would have loved that.
He would have loved that a lot.
- With that, the engines rumble back to life and it's on to Seattle.
- The ferry staff did a wonderful job position.
And, the ferry was supposed to be, it happens that when we dropped him off,
that it's exactly the era that he used to hang out in the boat when he was a kid.
So that was just splendid.
You know. - A brief sailing that arrives with one less soul on board.
But a family at peace.
This is the
day Larry's family and friends gather to say goodbye,
though it is also the start of a deeper connection
to this place. - We know that he always going to be here with us
every time we visit Alki and you know West Seattle area.
We're going to have you know him in mind.
- There are some restrictions and variables
when making plans for these burial services.
You'll need to check out the Washington
State Department of Transportation's website.
Wash dot dot wa dot gov and search for special occasions.
Up next, the waters of Puget Sound are pretty cold year
round, but there are some folks looking forward to jumping in.
No matter the temperature.
- Welcome back to City Stream from the Washington state
ferry Walla Walla. You've heard about cold plunges,
but what about folks that take it a step further?
While some in the Seattle area are enjoying the growing
hobby of open water swimming, braving frigid temps
for a workout in Puget Sound, many without even a wetsuit,
allow me to introduce you to the Notorious Alki swimmers.
- Our lives are increasingly comfortable,
warm homes to wake up in, cars that insulate us from the sound of traffic
and social media algorithms that feed us what we already want to hear.
But when was the last time you chose to be uncomfortable?
- I'm feeling the stinging.
I'm stinging cold.
- For those gathered at Alki Beach in West Seattle
this Saturday morning, that's part of the appeal.
- You're walking over to the sound of people like, oh my God, you're going to swim?
Yeah, I'm going to go swim.
- These are the notorious Alki Swimmers who gather here every weekend
to enjoy the frigid waters of Puget Sound, no matter the season, and exercise
not just in overcoming the elements, but building community, too.
- It's the people.
It's just a great group of people that do this all the time.
- I think a lot of these people live really close, you know?
So it's just nice to have, like, such a local thing.
And you can get to know people who live nearby.
- With water temps as low as about 45 degrees, they've certainly earned
their name notorious. - 50 degrees as kind of the benchmark for me.
If it's colder than 50 degrees.
I wear two Swim caps.
- Sam day is one of the original corps members who designed their logo and flies
the flag. It's a pretty informal group,
but has grown more popular in the years since the pandemic.
Closed pools and more folks discovered the allure of open water.
- I'm an evangelist for this.
I love talking to new people and, you know, people walk by
and who are not going to swim, and they always ask us questions.
And I love to answer in that, too.
We're pretty social group.
- Now they range from a dozen on Sundays to 40 or 50 swimmers on others.
Folks sharing an iconic part
of the Seattle experience water and nature in a bracing way.
- There is a connection to the place
as a connection to the beach, to the sound itself.
And when you swim to the lighthouse.
And there's just this feeling of I have arrived.
This is the place.
- Some may only tackle a few
hundred meters, while others are training for bigger objectives.
Count Melissa Kegler.
In that second category. - The swims I'm most proud of with marathon
swimming is the Triple Crown of open water swimming, which is English Channel,
Catalina Channel and circumnavigation of Manhattan Island.
And probably my favorite marathon.
Swim is actually right here in Seattle.
The Amy Hyland Swim, which is typically Bremerton to Alki.
And I was the first person to do a double. - That's out and back,
just over 10.5 hours on the go.
But her latest project is ice swimming projects and even colder water.
She broke the U.S.
ice distance record captured in the film Ice Mermaid, airing on PBS,
and is filming another movie about climate change and swimming alongside
vanishing glaciers in Alaska called After Drop.
- If you really get to know the water really well, you almost start
seeing the water more like a person that you're building a relationship with.
You get to know it, how it moves, what it looks like,
all the different, you know, intricacies of how the water behaves.
You develop this sense where you trust the water
and you understand almost what it's thinking.
In a way, I'm thankful for that relationship that I have
with the ocean every day.
- To some extent, that's what drives many of the swimmers at Alki
a new way to appreciate the landscape we love.
- So the connection to place this is our place.
- Not defying the cold, but embracing it.
- It's hard getting in.
I'm comfortable now.
- To find comfort. - To go a little further. - In being uncomfortable.
- It makes you feel alive and it keeps you alive.
- A warning if you're planning on trying open
or cold water swimming for the first time, do not go alone.
With water temperatures around 45 degrees this time of year,
the inexperienced can get into trouble very quickly.
But the good news anyone is welcome at the notorious swimmers.
You can find them at the Alki Bathhouse most weekend mornings.
Seattle Channel 2025
Northwest Regional Emmy recipient for Overall Excellence.
- The name
Eci means warrior in and in our tribe
names are your destiny
and so the idea that there was going to be advocacy and fighting for what's right,
and justice that those were going to be a part of,
like the theme of my life were kind of written in from the beginning.
My name is Eci Ameh
I'm a I'm the executive director of the Community Police Commission.
I'm a first generation Nigerian immigrant.
My parents immigrated from Nigeria specifically to study.
My dad came first.
He got an industrial engineering degree and an aeronautical engineering degree.
I knew that I was really compelled to law.
I mean, it was one of those things, like,
everybody always told me, you're going to be a lawyer.
I would adjudicate cases when I was a kid with, like, a meat tenderizer and then
like a little table.
But when I got to law school, I was more interested in the systems.
So for me, my journey to public service
was really an identification that I wanted to make a bigger impact.
CPC is meant to amplify the voices of those that are most impacted by policing.
CBC's role is to make sure that those perspectives are heard
in police policies and practices.
Our policy team works with a 15 person body of commissioners.
Those commissioners, our volunteers or community leaders to provide review
of policies, to provide feedback, to go out and do engagement of communities,
and then provide policy recommendations to decision makers.
CPC's job is not to restore public trust in the Seattle Police Department.
That's the Seattle Police Department's job.
CPC's job is to make sure we are communicating to SPD
what it looks like to earn back the community's trust.
Here in CPC, we have a diverse team that is brilliant, that is talented.
They are all experts in their own areas.
So I always talk about this.
We are the Ninja Turtles.
I think we can do so much better work for communities when we are a healthy
and high morale team.
You need the entire team working together in order to make things work.
I'm definitely a Raphael.
I mean, come on.
But I don't need to be all things
because that's what the team is for.
- That's it for this
edition of City Stream from the Washington state ferry Wall Walla.
If you'd like to watch more of our award winning programing, you can go to Seattle
Channel.org and search feature shows. From all of us at Seattle Channel.
Thank you for your support this year.
I'm Michael Crowe.
Have a happy New Year.