Nisqually Tribe Habitat Restoration Program
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The Nisqually Indian Tribe celebrated one of the largest steps ever in the effort to restore Puget Sound . The tribe recently put the finishing touches on a decade-long effort to restore 140 acres of former cow pasture to critical salmon habitat. The tribe and its partners in the restoration held a "Welcoming the Tides ceremony" on Thursday, October 31. Speakers included Billy Frank Jr. and Bill Ruckelshaus, co-chairmen of the Puget Sound Partnership and Rep. Norm Dicks. A new wetland within the restored estuary will be dedicated for the Braget Family, who operated the cattle ranch on the restoration site for over a century. "The new Braget Marsh will honor the family whose efforts protected this stretch of Puget Sound " said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Tribe. Most of the massive Nisqually River estuary was diked in the early 20 th century to create farm land. "If all of the diked estuary in the Nisqually basin was restored, we could double the survival of wild Chinook salmon with that additional habitat" said Jeanette Dorner, Salmon Recovery Program Manager for the tribe. Nisqually River Chinook are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is critical for the recovery of salmon and of Puget Sound to restore as many of wetlands in region as possible said Troutt. .Besides being the most important step we can take to restore wild salmon in the watershed, it is also the most cost effective. In addition to the 100 acres being restored this summer, the tribe al-ready has opened 40 acres in the same area during the last ten years. You start to see changes almost immediately in a restored estuary. "Once that tide comes in the first time, it becomes estuary" said Dorner. .Plants that can grow in saltwater came back by themselves, providing valuable habitat to salmon and other wildlife. The tribe's effort on the Pierce County side of the Nisqually is a precursor to a much larger estuary restoration planned on the Thurston County side where the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is in the planning stages of a project that will reclaim almost 700 acres of estuary. "Working closely with the Refuge we can almost totally restore the entire historic Nisqually River estuary" said Dorner. |