Brown Farm Dike Trail is worth one last late-summer hike

By Chester Allen | The Olympian • Published September 10, 2008

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• What: Time is running out to hike the popular 5.5-mile Brown Farm Dike Trail at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

• To do: The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge has started a 3-to-4-year project to restore 762 acres of farmland to saltwater marsh, and part of that project means tearing down the Brown Farm Dike Trail — perhaps by August 2009. That means this is the last September and October to hike the wonderful trail, which has great views of the Nisqually River, Nisqually Reach on Puget Sound, huge trees, freshwater marshes — with great birdwatching — and other sights. The ultra-flat Brown Farm Dike Trail is an easy walk with wonderful sights. Some landmarks along the trail are already closed, such as the Ring Dike Trail — and birding blind. A log observation tower that overlooks saltwater marsh and the Nisqually Reach also is closed.

Part of the Brown Farm Dike Trail — the stretch from the visitor center to the McAllister Creek fishing area — is closed until later this month because heavy earthmoving equipment is in that area. That means the trail is not a loop for a few weeks. Try starting out at the Nisqually River side of the trail and hike to the now-closed observation tower and then turn around and come back. The loop will be open in late September.

New dikes — much closer to the visitor center — will keep back tidewater when the old Brown Farm Dike is torn down sometime in 2009. Refuge officials hope the new dikes will be ready to hold back saltwater in the summer of 2009, and the Brown Farm Dike is now scheduled to be torn down in August 2009.

• Why the change? Biologists say that restoring the Nisqually River estuary will give young salmon a place to hide and get bigger before heading out to the Pacific Ocean. While some animals and plants will not thrive in the restored estuary, others will. For example, grassland and forest birds will have less habitat, but shorebirds will have more. Eventually, the tidelands will look — and perform — much as they did before dikes were built in the early 1900s.

• A new trail: The Brown Farm Dike Trail will be history in a year or less — so get out there now — but a new trail and boardwalk will be built. The new trail will not be a loop trail. 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.

• Look for: You should visit this trail one last time within the next few weeks. The trail, with huge, overhanging maple trees, loops around a big chunk of the refuge, and it's beautiful in late summer and fall. Right now, plenty of birds — waterfowl and songbirds — are flapping around the trail, the freshwater wetlands and the grasslands. Ripe blackberries are plentiful along the trail. You can watch members of the Nisqually tribe net chinook salmon in the Nisqually River right next to the trail. Notice spots where earthmoving equipment is preparing the new dikes and the land for the return to tidewater.

• Equipment: Good walking shoes, water, camera, binoculars or spotting scope, food, sunscreen and rain gear.

• More information: Call 360-753-9467 or check www.fws.gov/nisqually.