Community members gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in a commemoration Thursday, Aug. 15.
The event honored partnerships between the refuge, tribes and community and began with a guided walk of the refuge and concluded with comments from U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff, tribal partners, congressional representatives and more.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams and Washington state Lt. Gov. Denny Heck were among those in attendance and who spoke to the crowd. They both acknowledged the late Nisqually Tribe leader and tribal treaty rights activist Billy Frank Jr., for whom the wildlife refuge is named as part of the 2015 Billy Frank Jr. Tell Your Story Act. Heck introduced the bill, signed into law by President Barack Obama, that also established a memorial to commemorate the Treaty of Medicine Creek within the refuge.
After the event, Heck said the event made him emotional as he considered the hard work that went into not only the naming of the refuge but into the last 50 years of it as well.
“I did my absolute best to stop crying. I sat around all morning thinking about what it is that I wanted to share today, and it never occurred to me that I’d start bawling,” Heck said. “It’s part of the magic of this place that touches your heart. I’m so full of gratitude for the people that made sure that we would be able to be here today.”
Williams, who has served as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director since 2022, said after the event that she was privileged to travel to the refuge from Washington D.C. and observe a community she described as “incredibly rich” and was inspired to see the growth of the estuary.
“It’s not only beautiful, but it has this really rich history. I love the smell of it,” she said. “We went out at low tide, and I loved seeing the birds and the wind and walking out with the chief and hearing his stories. I love the stories that come with it. I just think it makes it much richer by knowing and learning about the background and how important it is to this part of the country.”
Heck said he remembers Frank most for his courage and dedication to fighting for fishing rights, despite being arrested 59 times up until the 1974 Boldt Decision, which affirmed that tribes were entitled to 54% of the annual fish harvest. Frank posthumously earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and will have a statue of his likeness in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol in 2025.
“He went from, pre-Boldt Decision, being the protester on behalf of his treaty rights to one of the great collaborators and peacemakers of all time,” Heck said. “I think the highest compliment I’ve ever heard said about Billy was that he possessed a skill that is nowhere near present enough today, and that was the ability to get up from a negotiating table, regardless of the outcome, and shake hands.”
David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Indian Tribe, said the refuge’s restoration project is about 90% complete and that he hopes the remaining 10% will be restored someday. The Brown Farm Dike was removed in 2009, returning 762 acres of estuary back to tidal influence, and in 2011, the 1-mile estuary boardwalk opened.
“It’s been a pretty significant project, and it’s made a big difference for the fish, which is the most important thing,” Troutt said.
The next big project to kick off the next 50 years is the National Environmental Policy Act, which will study a 4.7-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between the Marvin Road and Mounts Road interchanges. The primary improvements proposed with the project include building a shared-use path adjacent to Interstate 5 that would improve access to the refuge; replacing existing bridges and constructing new bridges across the Nisqually Delta to increase the resiliency of I-5 to flooding and sea level rise and to support habitat enhancements in the delta; and to install new stormwater treatment areas to treat runoff from I-5 within the project; among others. The final environmental assessment is expected to be finished in 2026.
Troutt said the refuge is a “glowing example” of partnerships and the power of collaboration between different entities such as the refuge, tribes, and local and federal representatives.
“It really is a glowing example of partnerships and working together that can serve as a model for others. It was cool to have folks from D.C. back here recognizing that,” he said. “It’s really important for us. We don’t need validation for our work. The fish tell us that we’re doing the right thing.”
