By Elaine Packard, chair of the Water & Salmon Committee
On June 22, 2019, the Chapter’s Water and Salmon Committee held an outing to the Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge, led by Phyllis Farrell of the South Sound Group. The Refuge is also the site of the Nisqually estuary restoration which began in 2009 when the removal of a dike from the early 1900s allowed water from the Nisqually River to mix with the saltwater of South Puget Sound. Sixteen Sierra Club members participated in the outing which also featured commentaries from Sam Merrill of the Black Hills Audubon Society and Dr. Melanie Davis who shared her dissertation research on the Nisqually estuary restoration.
The 5-mile roundtrip easy boardwalk outing was informative, good exercise, and it didn't rain! The views of the estuary and Puget Sound marine environment were great! The participants were an interesting and diverse group that enjoyed getting to know one another...one from the Loo Witt Group (Vancouver, WA), one from the North Olympic Group (Sequim), several from the Seattle area as well as local South Sound Group members.
Sam Merrill shared information about the importance of the Refuge to native and migratory birds and pointed out individual bird species sightings. Dr. Melanie Davis shared information about estuary function, the importance of the Nisqually estuary for salmon recovery efforts and as a carbon sequestration tool for mitigating climate change. She also cited some issues affecting full restoration such as limited sedimentation (due to upper river dams) and Interstate 5 blocking freshwater flows into the estuary.
This fun outing reinforced the environmental importance of estuaries in our Salish Sea waters. To get involved in the advocacy work of our Water and Salmon Committee, please contact Elaine.