Nisqually – Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge

The Nisqually – Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge is located 10 miles or so east of Olympia, right off of I-5. It was a working dairy farm for years and still has the pair of large barns from those days. The interior area of the refuge had been diked off and used for pasture, but in the recent past the dike was breached in several places to restore acres of salt marsh for young salmon habitat. It is also a great place for bird watching and photography. The area is the estuary of the Nisqually River.