This post is part of the series 13 Ways of Looking at the Northwest. You can find the initial post here.
By Heather Lowcock, Project Archivist, NHPRC Grant – News Tribune Collection
A few weeks ago, I spotted a deer taking a stroll through my Tacoma neighborhood. Months before, there were raccoons on a roof, and an opossum playing possum on S 11th Street. On visits to family in Mason County, I am awed by eagles, foxes, owls, seals, whales, and, of course, more deer and raccoons. I’ve even found myself fascinated by massive spiders and their webs--those on trails and not in my apartment! A few years ago, I was living in Hollywood where my interactions with wildlife consisted of seagulls, rattlesnakes, and actors! Such a contrast has rearranged my place in the natural world and the role we all play in its protection and harm.
Wildlife in The News Tribune
Before we had cat memes and viral videos of pygmy hippos named Moo Deng, we apparently got our animal fix from newspaper photographs. I wasn’t long into the process of digitizing the News Tribune collection before I hit files of aardvarks and apes and bats. There are photographs of people with their pets like Tacoman Karl Martin out for a walk with his rats "Smoker” and “Zippy,” and Scott Ameline wrapped in his boa constrictor “Boston.” For a more typical breed of pet, there’s “Guts” with his owner Marshall Parkhurst, and Jeanne Neilson’s pug “Willie.” There are Point Defiance Zoo photos of “Cindy” the elephant, wild geese at Steel Lake, and pigs at the Pierce County fairgrounds. And yes, even lions and tigers and bears.
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
In 1971, David and Connie Hellyer donated land to Parks Tacoma for the creation of a wildlife park and preserve. Materials in the Northwest Room and News Tribune photograph collection highlight its construction and development near Eatonville. Early goals of Northwest Trek, mentioned in a proposed master plan by Richardson Associates and Jones & Jones, focus on the establishment of a wildlife sanctuary with research facilities and public engagement opportunities. The proposed design booklet includes sketches of exhibits and facilities, plans for tours, nature trails, and succession planting as well as projections for attendance and budget. Northwest Trek officially opened in 1975. A 1980 study by the League of Women Voters noted the challenges faced in the initial construction with incomplete exhibits and higher maintenance costs due to lower-than-expected attendance. However, Northwest Trek continued to develop its exhibits and conservation efforts. The park set an attendance record in 1994 with 210,000 visitors, and Parks Tacoma was able to purchase 100 additional acres, providing more sanctuary and conservation spaces in 2005.
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
“I believe in the sun and the stars, the water, the tides, the floods, the owls, the hawks flying, the river running, the wind talking. They’re measurements. They tell us how healthy things are. How healthy we are. Because we and they are the same. That’s what I believe in. Those who learn to listen to the world that sustains them can hear the message brought forth by the salmon.”
Nisqually Elder Billy Frank Jr.
The Nisqually River watershed resides on the traditional lands of the Nisqually People. It provides, through its salt marsh, marine waters, riparian and upland forests, and freshwater wetlands and grasslands, a diverse habitat for migratory birds, salmon, and other native wildlife. Over the years, the delta’s proximity to Tacoma and Olympia made it an attractive prospect for developers and industries, including the Port of Tacoma, Weyerhaeuser, and CalPortland. In the 1960s and early 1970s, government officials and citizen conservationist groups like the Nisqually Delta Association began to advocate for its protection, and the delta region was given protected status as the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in 1974. A portion of the refuge was designated as a Research Natural Area in 1989 to preserve the ecosystem and its species while providing research spaces that did not alter natural ecological processes. In 2009, the Nisqually Tribe worked in conjunction with the federal government to complete an estuary restoration project that removed a dike system. Its removal restored acres of estuarial land back to the tribe and refuge and created additional habitat for endangered salmon. The refuge currently covers approximately 2,925 acres.
In 2015, the refuge became known as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually Elder, grew up along the river. He was first arrested for fishing on the Nisqually River when he was 14 and subsequently arrested more than 50 times during demonstrations and “fish-ins” before the Boldt decision in 1974 validated tribal fishing rights. Frank was a relentless advocate for people and the planet, building relationships with others to preserve tribal sovereignty and treaty rights, manage fisheries, restore habitats, and sustain natural resources.
Still curious about Northwest wildlife and their habitats? Browse the “animals” subject heading in ORCA or stop by the Northwest Room to search our collection of wildlife books. You can also learn more about Billy Frank Jr., the “fish-ins,” Northwest Trek, the Nisqually Delta and other environmental issues and conservation efforts from our clippings files, the book Where the Salmon Run: The Life and Legacy of Billy Frank Jr., the Robert Ramsey Papers, and the Chambers-Clover Creek Watershed Council Records.
The digitization and processing of the News Tribune Photograph Collection was supported by a grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives
Sources:
Heffernan, T. (2012). Where the salmon run: the life and legacy of Billy Frank Jr. University of Washington Press.
Kongsgaard, Martha. (2014, May 8). Remember a legend: Billy Frank Jr. Save Our Wild Salmon. https://www.wildsalmon.org/news-and-media/news/remembering-a-legend-billy-frank-jr.html
League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County. (1980, April). Study of Northwest Trek. League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County Records (3.4.3). Tacoma Public Library, Northwest Room, Tacoma, WA, United States.
Marritz, Robert O. (2009, March 10). Billy Frank Jr. HistoryLink. https://www.historylink.org/File/8929
Northwest Trek. (2025). About us. https://www.nwtrek.org/connect/about-us/
Richardson Associates and Jones & Jones. (1973). Master plan and design concept for Northwest Trek: a wilderness park and wildlife preserve for the Tacoma Metropolitan Park District and the Tacoma Zoological Society.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2025). Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, About us. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/billy-frank-jr-nisqually/about-us
