Puget Sound Regional Council major cities are Seattle, Bellevue in King County, Tacoma in Pierce County, Everett in Snohomish County, and Bremerton in Kitsap County. The region's population was estimated to be over 3.8 million as of April 2014. In 1956 the four counties of the Puget Sound region established the Puget Sound Regional Planning Conference, which changed its name to the Puget Sound Governmental Conference (PSGC) in 1958. It launched the Puget Sound Regional Transportation Study (PSRTS) in 1962 with support from the Washington State Highway Commission, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration), and the U.S. Department
South Puget Sound shelter whale calves. Southern resident killer whales (orcas) have been reported as far south as Eld Inlet. Smaller species include Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides Dalli), harbor seals (Phoca Vitulina) and the Pacific harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). A single sea otter was sighted in the South Sound in 2012. South Puget Sound South Puget Sound is the southern reaches of Puget Sound in Southwest Washington, in the United States' Pacific Northwest. It is one of five major basins encompassing the entire Sound, and the shallowest basin, with a mean depth of . Exact definitions of the region vary: the state's Department of