Last May, the man who over 35 years ago signed the order banning DDT was asked to speak at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The occasion was an annual forum in honor of Rachel Carson, the woman responsible for the public awakening that led to that historic order. Now, in his seventies, William Ruckelshaus has been called upon to direct another landmark environmental effort, Washington State's Puget Sound Partnership (PSP). The PSP is a new state umbrella agency tasked with coordinating and supervising the restoration and protection of Puget Sound, whose watershed is home to over four million people, two-thirds of the state's population. In his remarks at the Rachel Carson Forum and in a follow-up interview, Ruckelshaus addressed the challenges of that herculean task and spoke of the importance to a democratic society of public involvement and public interest in environmental governance.