Nisqually River Council

Nisqually River Management Program

What is the Nisqually River Watershed? The Nisqually River Watershed is a land of wind and wildlife, glaciers and storms, towering firs and diminutive banana slugs. Yet it is also a land greatly affected by human decisions and activities. Though the Nisqually is one of the least developed rivers in southern Puget Sound, it faces an uncertain future.
Flowing 78 miles from its source at the Nisqually Glacier on 14,410-foot Mount Rainier to its delta at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, the Nisqually is a direct link between the summit snows of Washington's highest peak and the marine waters of Puget Sound.

What is the Nisqually River Management Program? Recognizing the priceless heritage of the Nisqually River, the state legislature directed the Department of Ecology in 1985 to create a comprehensive management plan for the river and its watershed.
The Nisqually River Task Force, consisting of federal, state and local governments, business representatives, the Nisqually Indian Tribe, and interested citizen activists, created the Nisqually River Management Plan. The plan provides for a "...balanced stewardship of the area's economic resources, natural resources and cultural resources."

One of the most pristine rivers in Washington State, the Nisqually journeys through an amazing variety of habitats - from subalpine meadows and old-growth Douglas-fir forest through forested foothills and across lowland prairies to its estuarine reaches and tidal mudflats

Its watershed encompasses a broad range of land uses and jurisdictions - rural communities, national and state parks and forests, public and private timberlands, municipal hydropower projects, farmlands, the Nisqually Indian Reservation, Fort Lewis Military Reservation and the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.