Long Live the Kings Awarded Microsoft AI for Good Sponsorship to Advance Ecosystem Modeling in Puget Sound
SEATTLE, WA — April 30, 2025 — Long Live the Kings (LLTK), a nonprofit dedicated to restoring wild salmon and steelhead and supporting sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest, has been awarded a $25,000 Azure sponsorship through the 2025 Microsoft AI for Good Open Call Program. The award will support LLTK’s innovative work applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to model cumulative environmental impacts in Puget Sound.
The funding will directly support LLTK’s contribution to the Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework—an ambitious, collaborative project that links environmental and human systems modeling to assess how future scenarios, such as climate change and regional development, will affect ecosystems and communities in the Puget Sound Basin. Microsoft’s Azure credits will be used to enhance the framework’s marine ecosystem model and better predict outcomes for species and ecosystem services that are vital to the region.
“We’re honored to receive this support from Microsoft’s AI for Good initiative,” said Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna, Marine Ecologist at Long Live the Kings. “This award enables us to harness cutting-edge technology to better understand and protect the complex and vital ecosystems of Puget Sound. By integrating AI into our ecosystem modeling work, we can explore how climate change, human development, and resource management decisions interact—and identify solutions that sustain the species, communities, and economies that depend on healthy waters.”
Microsoft’s AI for Good initiative supports research and nonprofit organizations working at the intersection of technology and social impact. Through its sponsorship program, Microsoft empowers changemakers applying AI to tackle challenges in health, climate, and humanitarian sectors.
“The twenty projects we recognize with our AI for Good awards highlight organizations and ideas making a real impact on some of today’s most complex issues that intersect with climate, health and humanity,” said Juan Lavista Ferres, CVP, Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft. “These teams are clear-eyed about making a difference for people in Washington and around the world. We are honored to work with them.”
The Azure sponsorship will run through May 2027, providing LLTK with cloud computing resources necessary to process complex data and deliver powerful insights to policymakers and communities working to protect the Sound.
For more information about Long Live the Kings and its science-driven efforts to protect Pacific salmon, visit www.lltk.org.