Latest Restoration News

Tides rechanneling Nisqually River. The News Tribune. February 08, 2010. The tides are back and change is afoot at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. No one knows that better than Jean Takekawa, who manages the 3,000-acre refuge southwest of Tacoma. She is in charge of returning 762 acres of the refuge to a saltwater marsh or estuary after more than 100 years as farmland and freshwater wetlands. “Water is really taking over,” she said this week as higher-than-normal tides flooded into the refuge. “Nature and tides are very effective at this – better than we are at restoring the estuary.” [Link]

Northwest Now - Puget Sound and Nisqually Restoration . KBTC Public Television Tacoma. February 07, 2010. The tide is moving back in to the Nisqually delta. After more than 100 years without saltwater, historic farming dykes have been removed and the waters of the Puget Sound are moving in to recreate a fertile estuary for fish, birds, plants, and mammals. As we splash around in the waters of the Puget Sound, it's disheartening to realize that the Sound is one of the five most polluted waterways in North America. Every year, roughly 52-million pounds of toxic chemicals wash into the Puget Sound. Five types of salmon and the orca are listed by the federal government as endangered species. Over all, one-thousand Puget Sound species are in decline. The price tag to clean up our famed waterway now sits at seven to eight billion dollars. One clean-up project that is well underway is the restoration of the Nisqually delta estuary. After one hundred years of farming. The dikes surrounding the delta are coming down and salt water is returning to this important breeding and feeding ground. [Link]

Job Announcement: Biological Field Technician. Nisqually Delta Restoration Partners. January 25, 2010. Nisqually Delta Restoration Partners have a 1.5 year non-federal position opening for a Biological Field Technician (Restoration). The Nisqually has been the focus of the largest estuary protection and restoration effort in Puget Sound and represents an exciting opportunity for ecological monitoring and research in support of the restoration. The incumbent will be based at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge near Olympia, Washington and work with a USGS Biologist and other partners. See linked PDF below for full job description and application guidelines. [Link]

Video: The Nisqually Estuary Returns. January 05, 2010. Diked and dammed for more than 100 years, the tide is returning to the Nisqually estuary. Conservation partners gathered at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to celebrate the largest estuary restoration in the Pacific Northwest. After spending 12 years and nearly $10 million, experts have reconnected some 762 acres of estuary with the tides of Puget Sound. [Link]

About the Project

The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) is working to restore the Nisqually estuary, the largest estuary restoration project of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. The Refuge is being assisted by two key partners, the Nisqually Indian Tribe (Tribe) and Ducks Unlimited, to restore much of the historic estuary and reconnect it with the tides of Puget Sound. Lands located within the Refuge boundaries, including smaller parcels owned by the Tribe or Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, protect one of the few relatively undeveloped estuaries remaining in Puget Sound along the Nisqually River. Nearly 405 ha diked for farming in the late 1800s has been managed by the Refuge as freshwater wetlands since 1974. In 2008, the Refuge and its key partners embarked upon the tidal restoration of 283 ha of estuarine habitat on the west side of the river, consistent with the recently completed Comprehensive Conservation Plan goal to restore native habitats representative of the Puget Sound lowlands. This tidal restoration complements the conversion of 57 ha of diked pasture on the east side of the river undertaken by the Tribe in 2002. More »