SWINOMISH — The U.S. Geological Survey Tribal Journey Water Quality Project, which helps study marine ecosystems with an eye toward restoring Puget Sound, recently received the Department of the Interior’s Partners in Conservation Award.

The award recognizes the strength of collaborative efforts between the USGS and the Coast Salish Western Washington Tribes and British Columbia First Nations.

During the 2008 Tribal Canoe Journey, five of the more than 100 canoes that traveled from various reservations in Washington and Canada to Cowichan First Nation in Duncan, B.C., carried state-of-the-art water-quality probes and global positioning system units and mapped 607 miles of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. The water probes also collected water quality data at more than 45,000 locations in the sea.

The cooperative effort also included sharing traditional tribal knowledge about the ecosystem that has been passed down through the generations.

“Our way of life depends upon a healthy ecosystem that stretches from the mountains to the tidelands,” said Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby in a prepared statement. “Through the partnerships and project, we have a stronger science and policy capacity to protect the human health of our people, our culture, and aboriginal and treaty rights of our Nations.”

In February 2008, the Coast Salish nations — Washington’s 22 tribes and British Columbia’s 44 First Nations that are united by native dialect, traditional foods, cultural songs and ceremonies and ties of blood — met adopting a policy to support science, restoration and protection efforts in the Salish Sea, such as the partnership with USGS and the canoe journey.

The 2009 Tribal Journey Paddle to Suquamish will be Aug. 3-8.