'We are bringing back the saltwater marsh'

Bulldozers and other earth-moving machines began gouging into a beautiful green meadow near the entrance of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday.

"It's such a big change," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge manager Jean Takekawa said. "It's jarring to see heavy equipment out there, but it is how we are bringing back the saltwater marsh."

The refuge is on its way to becoming the largest restored saltwater marsh in Puget Sound.

The $12 million project, about 10 years in the making, will restore 762 acres of saltwater estuary near the mouth of the Nisqually River. It will provide habitat for chinook salmon, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The heavy equipment is being used to build a new, smaller dike around the visitor center and freshwater wetlands. When that dike — it will be about 10,000 feet long — is ready to block water, work will begin on tearing down the Brown Farm Dike that has blocked saltwater from flowing over the land since the 1900s.

Brown Farm Dike, which encircles the refuge, serves as a 5.5-mile hiking trail for many of the estimated 150,000 visitors to the refuge each year.

It will take the new dike a year to settle and be ready to block tidal flows; tearing down the outer dike might not start until August 2009, Takekawa said.

All told, the project, which includes building a new 3.5-milboardwalk trail from near the visitor center over the new saltwater marsh to where McAllister Creek flows into Puget Sound, will take up to four years to complete, Takekawa said.

When completed, 762 acres of the 3,000-acre refuge once again will be saltwater marsh. Saltwater marshes are vital natural areas for young salmon, shorebirds and other plants and animals.

The new boardwalk will let people walk over the marsh — during any stage of the tide — and see the mudflats, tidal channels, marshes and animals that make up a healthy saltwater estuary, Takekawa said.

"People can be above the estuary instead of being on the edge of it," Takekawa added.

The Nisqually tribe is restoring other parts of Nisqually Delta to saltwater marsh.

The tribe and Ducks Unlimited are major partners in the project. Funding has been secured from several sources, including the state's Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Estuaries are where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater, creating a biologically rich environment for plants, fish and animals. Estuaries also filter sediments and pollution and serve as a buffer during floods. About 80 percent of the Puget Sound estuary habitat has been lost to diking, draining and development. About 264 acres of freshwater wetlands will be maintained and improved inside the new dike, Takekawa said.

The refuge, popular with bird watchers and other wildlife lovers, will change a lot — but all of the changes will make for a healthier Puget Sound and healthier salmon runs, Takekawa said.

"This is a good thing," said Sara Lyon, an Olympia resident who visited the refuge Tuesday to watch birds. "They're restoring it to the natural state, and I'm all for natural."