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 Wild.