The Nisqually River Council (NRC) is initiating a project to prepare a plan for the development and management of a water trail on the main stem Nisqually River from below LaGrande Dam to the Nisqually delta. The goal is to facilitate a collaborative planning process inclusive of all landowners along the river and with other stakeholders to develop safe and appropriate public access points to the river for launching and taking out small human powered boats such as rafts, canoes, kayaks and inner tubes.
The NRC was created in 1987 and has succeeded in achieving many environmental goals. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the Nisqually River shoreline is now held in permanent conservation status by numerous watershed partners. Public recreation access to the river, however, is extremely limited and this project seeks to implement the ‘Recreation/Public Access/Tourism’ goals of the Nisqually Watershed Stewardship Plan that was developed in 2003 – 2004.
Technical planning assistance is being provided to the NRC on this project from the ‘Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance’ (RTCA) program of the National Park Service. RTCA awards grants of non-financial planning assistance to government agencies and/or non-profit groups working on local conservation and recreation projects. RTCA is assisting the NRC in defining/managing the planning process and in designing public outreach strategies. For more information go to: www.nps.gov/rtca
The project is expected to take about 18 months to two years to complete. During this time, staff from the NRC and RTCA will work with a citizen advisory committee to work through a planning process that includes the following components: vision and goal setting; stakeholder analysis and outreach; inventory of existing resources and facilities; issue identification; community and public outreach; identification of opportunities, constraints and management issues; evaluation of alternatives; development of recommendations; identification of potential funding and partnership opportunities; and plan production and adoption.
For more information please contact:
Morgan Greene
NRC Program Coordinator
morgan@nisquallyriver.org
(360) 438-8715
