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Washington’s inland waters now the Salish Sea |
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Olympia, Washington (AP) 11-09
 The U.S. Board on Geographic Names has adopted the name Salish Sea for the inland waters that stretch from Olympia north to Canada’s Desolation Sound.
Lou Yost, the board’s executive secretary, said the name was approved during mid-November, meaning Salish Sea can now be added to maps and other materials.
The name was proposed to describe the region’s far-reaching ecosystem, which until now has not had an official name but includes Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia – all well known marine waterways in the Pacific Northwest.
Bart Webber, a retired marine biology professor at Huxley College of
Environmental Studies at Western Washington University who proposed the
name, said it seemed appropriate because the indigenous people in the
region are connected by various Coast Salish languages.
“The Salish people were here first,” Webber told The Herald of Everett.
“It’s not a perfect fit – the Makah Tribe at Neah Bay are not Salish
people – but it fits pretty well.”
Washington state’s Board of Geographic Names approved the name late
last month. The Geographical Names Board of Canada also has approved
using Salish Sea for most of the marine waters between Vancouver Island
and the British Columbia mainland. Approval by the British Columbia
government is needed before the name is official.
The Washington side of the border often is called Puget Sound, but the
U.S. Geological Survey says technically that name only refers to the
waters south and east of Whidbey Island, including those off Seattle,
Tacoma, Olympia, Everett and Bremerton.
The British explorer Capt. George Vancouver named it after Lt. Peter
Puget, a member of Vancouver’s expedition who surveyed the southern
sound in 1792.
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