Little Hollywood is Back: Saving the Nisqually Delta and Other Updates!

 

by Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

After a six year hiatus, Little Hollywood is back! Not a month goes by that I don't hear from community members who have missed my photography and reporting on local issues. Thank you all so much for your love and support. What have I been doing all this time? In part, writing! 

Published in August 2025 by Little Hollywood Media, Saving the Nisqually Delta by Janine Gates chronicles the historic pressures to develop the Nisqually Delta into something that would have looked very different from what we see today. 

Located eight miles northeast of Olympia, Washington, the Nisqually Delta is one of the country's last unspoiled estuaries, a place where the fresh water of the Nisqually Delta meets the salt water of Puget Sound. The Nisqually Delta is home to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, however, the Refuge is only a small part of the Nisqually Delta. 

Saving the Nisqually Delta is an inspiring drama that captures the voices and efforts of environmentalists who fought proposals by ports, counties, cities, and corporations to industrialize the delta. It also recognizes those who are currently caring for the Nisqually River watershed, from its headwaters at Mount Rainier National Park to the Nisqually Reach. 

Significant threats to industrialize the Nisqually Delta were thwarted by effective citizen activism, but today, the Nisqually Delta is still at risk. The cumulative impact of urban and industrial encroachment still threatens the Nisqually Delta and its ecosystem.

Since publication, I have been busy giving slide show presentations throughout the Nisqually watershed and beyond. I have lots of stories to share, and I am grateful to all the organizations and local businesses who have hosted me. I'm booked at events through February 2026! 

For more information, go to my Saving the Nisqually Delta website, https://savingnisquallydelta.com, Instagram: @Ja9Olympia, or Facebook: Saving the Nisqually Delta. 

This blog, however, will return to covering issues in the public interest as the need arises. I may not have the time to devote to it as I did in the past, but it will be, again, just another source of information for your consideration. Please feel free to contact me at Ja9gates@aol.com with your news tips.

Janine Gates

Janine Gates speaks about her book, Saving the Nisqually Delta 

DuPont Historical Museum, October 12, 2025. 

Photo by Zac Lyday, DuPont Historical Museum

25th Nisqually Watershed Festival

Above: Cate Bellanca staffed a community information table for the Olympia Coalition for Ecosystem Preservation at the Nisqually Watershed Festival today.

 

Bellanca said she joined the three month old organization to help save the Great Blue Heron rookery endangered by a proposed development in her northwest Olympia neighborhood, and said she recently spent five hours gathering signatures on a petition to help save the rookery. For more information, go to www.olyecosystems.org.

 

By Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Starting as a glacier on Mt. Rainier, the Nisqually River flows 78 miles down the Nisqually River valley to meet Puget Sound. The freshwater of the Nisqually River mixes with the saltwater of Puget Sound and creates one of Washington’s largest undisturbed estuaries. The word “Nisqually” means “river of grasses,” or “flowing grasses.”

 

Located eight miles east of Olympia, this area, a former dairy farm and traditional land of the Nisqually Indian tribe, is now a spectacular national wildlife refuge. Every visit is different and provides rich learning opportunities and experiences.

 

A place of tranquility, September and October is an exciting time at Nisqually. Migrating waterfowl and wintering songbirds arrive. The entire food chain can be witnessed as peregrine falcons and American kestrels will also arrive, and feed on wintering birds. Bald eagles will hunt waterfowl flocks. Identifying species, watching behaviors and camouflaged activities, hearing songs and calls, and witnessing territorial movements is truly a treat.

 

Now in its 25th year, the Nisqually Watershed Festival today featured plenty of educational, hands-on activities, music, and of course, the opportunity to appreciate the history and environmental beauty of the Nisqually watershed. Today is also National Estuaries Day, established in 1988 as part of Coast Weeks.

 

Several hundred people parked at nearby River Ridge High School to take school bus shuttles to the festival.

 

Above: At the festival, Finn the Fish never disappoints, welcoming children small enough to explore the wonders featured inside. 

 

Above: A mother and son created a beaded salmon life cycle keychain. Each bead represents a part of the cycle: the first bead, a red bead, represents a redd, a salmon nest where salmon lay their eggs.

 

Above: The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. One always comes home refreshed, flowing in mind and spirit. 

 

 For more information, go to www.fws.gov/nisqually