A vibrant crowd of young nature enthusiasts and families flooded the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, Sept. 26, for the 37th annual Nisqually Watershed Festival, turning the daylong community celebration into an energetic showcase of youth environmental learning.
The festival ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., opened with bagpipes and drums from the Olympia Highlanders and a traditional opening blessing with song and drum by the Nisqually Indian Tribe Canoe Family. Children packed front-row seats for morning up-close encounters with snakes, alligators and iguanas during The Reptile Man presentation, followed by afternoon birds of prey demonstrations hosted by The Falconer.
Children’s creative arts took center stage at noon during the “Native Birds of the Watershed” poster contest award ceremony on the mainstage. Students in kindergarten through 5th grade across the Nisqually Watershed submitted original artwork centered on local bird species, with top winners receiving certificates and prizes while every submitted poster was publicly displayed at the refuge.
“The poster contest gives local students a creative avenue to research regional wildlife and share their art with the entire community,” said Julia Pinnix, information and education manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the refuge, who managed digital submissions for the initiative.
From climbing inside FIN, a 25-foot giant wild salmon replica, to stamping paint-covered real salmon onto plain T-shirts in the Critter Corridor, hundreds of local children spent the day immersing themselves in hands-on science across the refuge grounds.
“The festival serves as a gathering place for community members of all ages who want to experience hands-on environmental science with natural resource professionals and educators,” said Faith McDonald, education director at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
She noted that seeing so many young students engaged in outdoor activities reflects the event's core mission of connecting youth with regional ecology.
In the refuge's outdoor amphitheater, large crowds of curious kids gathered at 1 p.m. to observe a live Pacific Spiny Dogfish shark dissection, gaining an up-close look at the internal anatomy of marine life native to Puget Sound.
“Interactive science experiences give young learners a tangible connection to local aquatic life,” said Alexander Allison, education and outreach coordinator at the Nisqually Reach Nature Center, who led the shark dissection demonstration.
Allison emphasized that examining specimens like the Pacific Spiny Dogfish Shark in person transforms abstract classroom concepts into lasting ecological curiosity.
Throughout the afternoon, young attendees explored animal furs and skulls in the refuge education center, searched the trail paths for selfies with festival mascot Puddles the Blue Goose, and refueled at a traditional salmon barbecue featuring fish donated by the Nisqually Indian Tribe. Free continuous shuttles transported families between the refuge and the Hawks Prairie Park-N-Ride.
With kids leading the way from dissection tables to guided refuge trail walks, the 2026 Nisqually Watershed Festival demonstrated how experiential learning continues to nurture the next generation of Pacific Northwest conservation stewards.
