Nisqually Tribe Elder Billy Frank Passes Away

Billy Frank Jr with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell

Photo by Rachel Anne Seymour

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually Tribe elder and one of the strongest advocates for the preservation of Washington's greatest natural resource, Puget Sound, has passed away at the age of 83. It can be said with conviction that few in Washington did more to bring awareness to the critical importance of Puget Sound for everyone - whether tribal or otherwise - than he did. His energy and focus on the belief that Puget Sound's waters and tidelands provide a habitat producing a diversity of life found nowhere else will be deeply missed and difficult to replace. (Read more of the depth of Billy Frank Jr's influence here.)