Brown Farm Dike Trail, Washington

The Brown Farm Dike National Recreation Trail is part of the trail system on the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge just east of Olympia, Washington

News on changes in the trail system as habitat restoration continues at the Refuge.

Photos by Stuart Macdonald (Sept. 1, 2008)

	Trail and lock on the Ohio & Erie Canal

The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a biologically rich and diverse area at the southern end of Puget Sound, near Olympia, WA. The seven miles of walking trails include the one-mile Twin Barns Loop Trail is a fully accessible boardwalk trail with access to the observation platform. The 5.5 mile Brown Farm Dike Trail provides views of many different habitats and access to the observation platform and photo blinds.

The Brown Farm Dike Trail has for many years provided for a level loop trail on an earthen dike, with access to two viewing platforms and photo blinds. Most habitat types can be viewed from the trail: riparian, river, creek, grassland, freshwater wetlands, salt marsh, mud flats, and mixed forest habitat. A wide variety of birds can be seen from the trail. Along the trail are two observation structures along with several viewing binoculars and benches.

In the fall of 2008 the Refuge was in the process of creating new dikes with large earthmoving equipment. The new dikes will be built much closer to the visitors center. They will keep back tidewater when the old Brown Farm Dike is torn down, which is scheduled for August 2009.

The Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area

The $12 million project has been in process for 10 years. It will restore over 700 acres of saltwater estuary near the mouth of the Nisqually River. A principal goal of the changes is to provide habitat for chinook salmon, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Grassland and forest birds will have less habitat, but shorebirds will have more. Eventually, the tidelands will both appear and function as they did before the dikes were built in the early 1900s.

The project includes building a new 3.5-mile boardwalk trail to replace the Brown Dike Trail. Two miles of new dike will be built. The new trail will start near the visitors center and will all for pedestrians to travel over the new saltwater marsh to where McAllister Creek flows into Puget Sound.

Ducks Unlimited and the Nisqually tribe are major partners in the restoration. Funding has been secured from several sources, including Washington's state Salmon Recovery Funding Board, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

	Map of trails on Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (click to enlarge)

Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge provides abundant opportunities for recreation and wildlife watching. As surrounding wildlife habitat is lost to development, the Refuge has become an increasingly important place for migrating birds. Together with McAllister and Red Salmon Creeks, the Nisqually River forms one of the largest relatively undisturbed estruaries in Washington. This is a place for waterfowl to feed and rest before continuing on their journey. Western sandpipers and other shorebirds find food on the mudflats and marshes of the estruary. Ducks and geese feed and rest on the freshwater ponds and marshes.

Directions

Exit Interstate 5 at exit 114 eight miles east of Olympia. Follow the signs to the Refuge and visitor parking lot, about 0.5 mi. Trail starts at the Visitors Center.

For more information:

US Fish and Wildlife Service
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
100 Brown Farm Rd.
Olympia, WA 98516
(360) 753-9467
Fax: (360) 534-9302
http://www.fws.gov/Nisqually/

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