"I’ve lived on Puget Sound for 30 years," said volunteer Roger Carnes, at right in photo. “So much of our pleasures have come from the Sound‑sailing, kayaking, swimming in Budd Inlet. It feels really good to give something back."

Six years ago, Roger set out in a kayak and paddled with a friend from Olympia to Deception Pass. They alternated camping out with staying at B&B’s along the way. "We saw osprey, eagles, lots and lot of wildlife. It was an amazing trip," he said. "South Puget Sound is really one of the most beautiful, quiet, undiscovered areas in the country." On this day he volunteered to help survey a plot at Woodard Bay, near Olympia, for Olympia oysters. "I had never even considered the idea of walking in the mud," he said. "It was a revelation to me, to walk out in mud where we were sinking up to a foot deep with every step. And then it was amazing to see the a couple of hundred Olympia oysters living in the mud."