Puget Sound Partnership officials gathered in Sequim to honor those leading the local effort to improve the area’s water quality.

The celebration “Digging the Dungeness” on Nov. 20 shined light on the recent upgrade of 728 acres of shellfish beds in Dungeness Bay resulting from the ongoing efforts among individuals collaborating under the Sequim-Dungeness Clean Water Work Group and local community cooperation.

Those presented with plaques to signify the accomplishment included Joe Holtrop, Clallam Conservation District executive director; Andy Brastad, Clallam County Health and Human Services Environmental Health director; Matt Heins, Dungeness Farms manager; Theresa Lehman and Kurt Grinnell, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council members; and Ben Smith, Dungeness River Agricultural Water Users Association president.

“You should all be proud … these are not numbers you can get and change alone,” Sheida Sahandy, Puget Sound Partnership executive director, said. “These 728 acres are a building block of the 2020 10,800-acre goal before us.”

Puget Sound Partnership is the state agency tasked with leading the region’s collective effort to restore and protect Puget Sound.

In mid-October Washington State Department of Health officials reclassified 688 acres in the bay from “Conditionally Approved” to “Approved” and 40 acres from “Prohibited” to “Conditionally Approved.” The upgrades occurred because of a reduction of fecal coliform bacteria sampled from the bay, which is used to indicate the potential presence of harmful bacteria or viruses.

The piping of irrigation ditches, implementing best farm management practices and repairing failing septic systems all helped to better the bay’s water quality and reduce non-point pollution.

“You get good work and results when people work together and today is an example of that,” Brastad said while accepting the plaque of behalf of the Clallam County Environmental Health Department.

Although the improved water quality in Dungeness Bay is a step in the right direction, Sahandy admits “there’s still a lot of work” before those working toward the state goal to achieve a net increase of 10,800 harvestable shellfish acres by 2020, including 7,000 acres where harvest had been prohibited.

The water quality upgrade in Dungeness Bay is part of a net increase of 3,813 acres of shellfish beds, according to the Washington Department of Health.

Echoing Sahandy, all those honored at the event noted the local work to increase water quality is far from over.

“I’m pretty confident that we’re going to have more upgrades in the future,” Holtrop said.

Still, the proactive and collaborative example set by partners in Clallam County is something officials with Puget Sound Partnership plan to carry with them and share with others as they move forward assisting efforts to restore and protect Puget Sound, Sahandy said.

For more information on the October upgrade, visit www.sequimgazette.com/news/335177631.html.