On the Nisqually River Delta near south Puget Sound, this refuge protects a major estuary of salt marsh, mudflats, freshwater marsh, grassland, and riparian woodland that has long sustained the Nisqually people, who trace their origin to the basin and shaped it through stewardship practices. Nineteenth-century fur trading, farming, diking, logging, and dams damaged wetlands and salmon runs, while the Medicine Creek Treaty preserved fishing rights even as tribes were removed to reservations. A conservation battle stopped port development, and the refuge was created in 1974. Later restoration reopened tidal flow, revived habitat, and reinforced the link between estuary protection, salmon, migratory birds, and treaty rights.