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the negotiator 207before the plan could be realized.) Tribes were urging buffers at theriver’s edge—no farming, no logging—while farmers and loggersstrived to protect their livelihood. The tribes proposed a strict planfor land use, but timber interests concluded, “The river is healthy, soleave it alone.” It looked like everybody was ready for an absoluteshootout,” says Stu Bledsoe. “Everybody had their armor on.” Thestate formed the Nisqually River Task Force and tasked the groupwith finding common ground to protect the largest stream that dropsinto Puget Sound.In an old barn, Billy and 19 others handpicked by the state, satat the front of a U-shaped table. The room held a mix of interests:tribes, businesses, arms, Fort Lewis, as well as the power and timberindustries.Jim Wilcox, who was anxious about his 1909 family farm, remembersone “particularly stormy session,” when tempers rose. “I’ll neverforget the night. Billy Frank got up. He said, ‘We’ve got to stop thisright now. I want everybody to know that we want WeyerhaeuserTimber Company to continue to operate and own the land along theriver. We want Wilcox Farms to keep farming. We don’t want to doanything that’s going to put them out of business.’”“I told people condemning the people’s land is not a good thingand the Nisqually Tribe doesn’t want to be part of that,” Billy adds.Billy’s declaration eased tension. Following his lead, the task forcemoved forward with a protection plan that required no new laws orregulations. Wetlands were recovered to nurture fry and a compromisewas reached on buffers. “Basically, the landowners said, ‘Come to usand tell us what’s wrong and we’ll show you an existing regulationthat covers it,’” says Milt Martin with the state Department ofEcology. As a result, Wilcox recycles manure that is generated nearthe river to keep the water free of the waste. The tribes and Wilcoxcleared a beaver dam together to make way for the salmon. As of 2012,roughly 75 percent of the delicate shoreline that runs from TacomaPublic Utilities’ LaGrande Dam to the mouth of the Nisqually Riveris protected, more than seven times the protected acreage in 1977.