David Dicks continues to rebuild the state's effort to save Puget Sound, today announcing the hiring of Ron Kriezenbeck, the deputy regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who has been closely involved in the effort for some time now.

After a staff shakeup last month, Kriezenbeck will come aboard as a "senior adviser" to the partnership on tribal and federal affairs. He worked on the old Puget Sound Partnership, the one created by Gov. Chris Gregoire before the Legislature created the new Puget Sound Partnership, a group of civic leaders who are supposed to steer a Puget Sound rescue by the state, local governments, the feds, tribes, private business and others.

A key part of the structure is the Partnership's Ecosystem Coordination Board, a sprawling group of more than two dozen officials drawn from a broad set of interests. They advise the seven-member Puget Sound Leadership Council. Basically, the ecosystem board will provide a forum to work out -- or at least try to -- many of the inevitable bumps in the road. Those they can't will get tossed to the Leadership Council for a decision. (Warning: That's a layman's interpretation, but it's a layman who's watched government for a long time.)

Today King Count Executive Ron Sims was elected chairman of the ecosystem board. Said Dicks (yes, he is the congressman's son):

Ron's ability to bring all players to the table will be invaluable to the Partnership's effort to restore Puget Sound's health Add to that his longstanding track record on a wide range of environmental issues, including his support of salmon recovery efforts, and I'd say Ron's the perfect choice.

Sims does have green cred. The first time I met him, on the sidewalk, in the rain, he started without any prompting to tell me how important it is to save salmon. We got pretty wet before he was finished.