OLYMPIA, Wash. - With the rhythmic beat of Native American drums providing a sound track, Puget Sound tidal waters crept slowly into hundreds of acres of the Nisqually Delta that were taken away more than a century ago.
Government and tribal leaders celebrated at high tide today in what has become one of the largest delta recoveries in the country.
Pioneer farmers built dikes in the early 1900s to create more than a thousand acres of rich farm lands north of Olympia. Over the last two decades, tribal, government and conservation group leaders have been working to remove those barriers and restore one of the region's great estuaries.
"This is a great project, not just for waterfowl, but also for endangered salmon," said Steve Liske, a Ducks Unlimited engineer who has spent 12 years working on the Nisqually project.
Duck Unlimited contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to help give back the 762 acres of farmlands to the Sound. The Delta is one of the largest estuaries in the region where salt water from the sound mixes with freshwater from the Nisqually River and other streams to create the perfect blend to support native plants, animals and fish.
People are welcome here too. By 2010 there will be a mile-long boardwalk that will allow visitors to walk out into an actual tidal plain to experience an estuary at work.
Biologists say the return of the tides will help rid the area of non-native plants that choke out native species and will create perfect habitat for wildlife.
Right on cue today, as the Nisqually tribal members began playing drums to celebrate the project, a bald eagle soared overhead in a circular holding pattern and a flock of Canada Geese passed within a few hundred feet on their way to the deltas grasslands.
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