From insects to elk, the critters that make their home near the Nisqually River Project get a helping hand from Tacoma Power. The utility’s wildlife program protects and enhances 3,500 acres of land for wildlife in the Nisqually River basin.

Tacoma Power constructed and installed 35 nest boxes for wood ducks along the Alder Lake shoreline and downstream of the dams. In a highly successful year more than 100 ducklings hatch from these boxes. We’ve also created nesting structures for osprey and roosting boxes for bats.

The utility created 100 acres of meadows with high-quality forage for elk in the upper Nisqually basin.

Here are other ways that Tacoma Power protects wildlife habitat:

• maintains Western bluebird nesting boxes along the LaGrande transmission line
• attached visual markers to the transmission lines so birds avoid the lines
• created no-wake zones on Alder Lake to protect waterfowl, eagles and osprey
• preserves the pristine LaGrande Canyon downstream of the dams
• protects mature forest
• thinning dense forest so it matures more quickly

Tacoma Power continues to maintain and improve wildlife habitat as part of the Nisqually River Project.