The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife preserve operated by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

on the

Nisqually River The Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southeast of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of Pu ...

Delta near

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

in northeastern

Thurston County, Washington Thurston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 294,793. The county seat and largest city is Olympia, the state capital. Thurston County was created out of Lewis County by the g ...

and northwestern Pierce County, Washington. The refuge is located just off

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

, between the cities of Tacoma and Olympia.

History

The 12.6 km² refuge was created in 1974 to provide habitat and nesting areas for waterfowl and other migratory birds. It includes a protected

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es and open mudflats,

freshwater marsh A freshwater marsh is a non-tidal, non-forested marsh wetland that contains fresh water, and is continuously or frequently flooded. Freshwater marshes primarily consist of sedges, grasses, and emergent plants. Freshwater marshes are usually found ...

es, open

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

, and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and brush. An additional is protected by the disjoint Black River Unit on a tributary of the Chehalis River. Local environmentalist

Margaret McKenny Margaret McKenny (April 17, 1885 - August 1969) was an American landscape architect, naturalist, activist, and writer who was referred to as the "Grand Dame" of Northwest mushrooming. Early life and education Born in Olympia, Washington, she was ...

is attributed for the preservation of this area. On December 18, 2015,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

signed the Billy Frank Jr. Tell Your Story Act into law, redesignating the wildlife refuge in honor of

Nisqually tribe The Nisqually is a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States. They are a Southern Coast Salish people. They are federally recognized as the Nisqually Indian Tribe, formerly known as the Nisq ...

leader and

treaty rights In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States the term treaty rights specifically refers to rights for indigenous peoples enumerated in treaties with settler societies that arose from European colonization. Exactly who is indigenou ...

activist Billy Frank, Jr., who died in 2014. It also established the Medicine Creek Treaty National Memorial within the refuge to commemorate the

Treaty of Medicine Creek The Treaty of Medicine Creek was an 1854 treaty between the United States, and nine tribes and bands of Indians, occupying the lands lying around the head of Puget Sound, Washington, and the adjacent inlets. The tribes listed on the Treaty of Medic ...

. The national memorial is where the treaty was signed at the Treaty Tree, which is only accessible by boat up McAllister Creek.

Wildlife

The wildlife refuge is home to the Nisqually River Delta, which has the unique status as Washington's largest relatively undisturbed estuary. The confluence of the freshwater Nisqually River and the saltwater south Puget Sound has created a variety of unique environments, each rich in nutrients and natural resources for the local wildlife. The delta provides habitats for more than 300 different species of fish and wildlife. In 1904 the Brown Farm Dike, five miles long, was created to protect farmland from tidal surge, resulting in a loss of important habitat for young fish, birds and marine mammals such as harbor seals. As part of a long running project to restore the estuary, in 2009 a new 10,000 foot dike was installed behind the old dike and four miles of the old Brown Farm Dike were removed. This enabled the tidal flows to reclaim 762 acres to the estuary. Sea life features 24 species of fish located in one of three habitats:

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

ine, estuarine or the Nisqually Reach nearshore. Large populations of fall Chinook salmon, starry flounder and shiner perch offer a sampling of the fish that are abundantly available. The saltmarshes and mudflats are located outside of the dikes. Rich in nutrients, they are the home to clams, crabs, shrimp and worms, which in turn feed ducks, gulls and herons. Over 20,000 birds, made up of 275 different migrating species, use the freshwater marshes and grasslands for breeding, resting or wintering. The most abundant bird types include raptors, shorebirds and songbirds. Larger animals such as hawks and coyotes feast in the grassland due to the presence of mice and

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...

s. The riparian woodland and brush habitats contain many amphibians, mammals and reptiles.

References

External links

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service {{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in Washington (state) Protected areas of Pierce County, Washington Protected areas of Thurston County, Washington Lacey, Washington Nature centers in Washington (state) Wetlands of Washington (state) Landforms of Pierce County, Washington Landforms of Thurston County, Washington National Memorials of the United States

History

Wildlife

See also

References

External links