[♪♪]
- From the most fundamental standpoint,
without healthy waterways,
we can't exist.
[Paddling sounds]
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.
[♪♪]
Through 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 Earth Views
and started Earth Views Conservation Society.
And, during that period, some folks
here in Washington State had taken
what I was doing on Puget 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
the we did over 2500 miles
of the shoreline of Puget Sound.
And when I say mapping,
we utilize a 360 camera
[BEEPS]
On a kayak, 8 feet off the water.
The camera takes a picture every 10s.
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 View.
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 Street View 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.
It's also really important
for everyday folks
to just be able to go out and experience the waterway.
- It is crazy that we've had somebody that's
gone around the whole Sound.
This is absolutely ground
breakingly 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,
I'm in my happiest place.
[♪♪]
A lot of times people are like,
oh, I wish I had your job. (laughs)
[Boat being drug ashore]
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 still have to haul it up to the truck
and tied down and drive back
[Outboard motor starts]
I'm still four hours away from home and 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 3 to 5 people.
We drop people off.
They map for about ten miles or
anywhere from four to six 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.
[Wind blowing]
The hazards under the water are many.
There's all kinds of rocks and hazards
that poke up out of the water
that you have to be able to see.
[crashing sound]
That will not be the last time you hit ground.
You're constantly avoiding hazards.
The kayak, you know, bounces off of them.
So when you're running the prop, it's a constant stress all day.
You're just looking over the bow
waiting for the next rock,
the next hazard to ruin your day.
[Opens the case]
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.
We're going to see derelict vessels.
We're going to see floating docks
based on styrofoam straight
out of the 80s, in 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 to let 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.
[Case click shut]
- 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
it’ll get you to go to the beach more.
If you nurture that connection,
then we get back to answering your question about
why will people care?
Maybe they'll start to care
once they form some kind of
intimate connection with the waterway.
[♪♪]