Friends of the San Juans has identified the required cumulative impact assessment of the Shoreline Master Program update as a tool that can potentially lead to extensive improvements to both local and regional shoreline regulations. To better understand how cumulative impact analysis and regulations can protect shoreline ecosystems, FRIENDS will host a 2-day workshop at the Friday Harbor Laboratories scheduled for Sept. 2010. The goal of the workshop is to bring together local and regional experts and practitioners to develop practical and innovative scientific and policy approaches to reduce cumulative impacts to the waters of San Juan County and Puget Sound. In the months preceding the workshop, FRIENDS will collect and review cumulative impacts case studies and form a cumulative impacts technical group with key partners from the public and private scientific and non-governmental community.