Trek On The Wild Side Wildlife Park Offers Close-Up View Of Animals

Animal lovers would view Bill Liggett’s work as a job to die for.

Liggett spends his days patrolling 435 acres at Northwest Trek, Washington state’s premier wildlife park. For lack of an official job title for someone enjoying Liggett’s unique position, one might label him an “animal welfare specialist.”

Here at Northwest Trek, just northwest of Mount Rainier National Park, that’s a full-time task. At any given time, 80 to 100 animals wander through the park’s pristine forests, meadows and swamps. Each day, Liggett maneuvers his truck at a snail’s pace along its single narrow road, following the route of the visitor tram. He checks to see that all’s well with the free-roaming elk, bison, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer, antelope, caribou, and moose. Anything unusual, such as a buffalo with an uncharacteristic limp, is reported by radio.

By now, Liggett knows most of the animals individually and can get close up and personal with many. He’s been known to stare down the park’s feistiest male mountain goat, practically nose to nose. “This animal definitely has an attitude problem,” Liggett quips.

Actually, he and other park staff who care for the animals have little advantage over the average visitor when it comes to intimacy with the wildlife. That is the magic of Northwest Trek. As in other state-of-the-art facilities, visitors and gamekeepers alike are at one with wild creatures in a natural setting.

In traditional zoos, the animals are confined and the humans roam free. At Northwest Trek, animals in the Free-Roaming zone have the right of way, and visitors view them from an open-sided tram, at times only a whisker away.

With so many open acres, it’s necessary to assure that the animals gravitate to the roadside for maximum exposure to view, so their feed is strategically placed each morning along the tram route.

During the 50-minute ride, you might see a herd of bison ambling across a green meadow, calves in their midst, or a male caribou anxiously rounding up his harem of females as younger males watch from the sidelines. In the park’s rich wetlands area, white swans leave skid marks on the placid surface of a huge forest pond as they maneuver through a throng of ducks and other waterfowl.

This expanse of open acreage is only one attraction at Northwest Trek. The Core Area, covering an additional 170 acres, houses woodland animals in confined habitats suited to their individual lifestyles. Visitors can spy on bald eagles, tundra wolves, beavers, river otters, wolverines, skinks and raccoons.

In Cat Country, lynx and bobcat are showcased in natural settings, along with the tawny mountain lion, normally so elusive that it is rarely seen in the wild.

The newest additions to the Core Area are the grizzly and black bear exhibits. Four huge bears cavort in an eight-acre enclosure. Visitors have an unobstructed view as the animals forage for berries, snooze in the shade or play in their forest pools.

On the edge of the Core Area sits the Cheney Discovery Center where children of all ages are given hands-on ecology lessons.

Northwest Trek was born when Dr. and Mrs. David T. Hellyer donated 600 pristine acres to the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma. For the Hellyers, this was the protected place where native wildlife could thrive in an unspoiled setting, where visitors would have a unique opportunity to view them up close.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: If you go Northwest Trek is located on State Route 161, 17 miles south of Puyallup and 6 miles north of Eatonville, to the west of Mount Rainier National Park. All facilities in the park are wheelchair-accessible, and wheelchairs are accommodated on the trams. Northwest Trek is open from at 9:30 a.m. daily from March through October. During other months, it is open on weekends and holidays. Tram tours operate on the hour starting at 10 a.m. For more information, phone (206) 847-1901, or write Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, 11610 Trek Drive E., Eatonville, WA 98328. Tips for photographers In the Core Area, animals are on display in natural settings without intrusive bars. Some animals, such as bald eagles, frequently pose like statues, allowing the photographer time to get the best angle. Other animals, such as the raccoon and other furry mammals, may be quite active. If the animal is in bright sunshine, normal film, such as ISO 100, can usually stop action. However, if the animal is in deep shade, the photographer may have to use fast film such as ISO 400, or risk a blurred subject. The Free Roaming Area, visited by tram, is unpredictable when it comes to wildlife photography. Some of the tamer animals will pose an arm’s length from the lens, while others are more elusive. A telephoto lens is helpful in the latter case. Again, in heavily shaded areas, fast film is a must to prevent subject movement. The tram stops often for visitors to use their cameras, but no one may leave the vehicle. For keen photographers, custom tours are scheduled throughout the year. In the Free Roaming Area, a limited number of shutterbugs are accommodated on a special early bird tram trip from 8 to 10 a.m., before the park opens to the public. Likewise, an early tour through the core area begins at 7:30 a.m., in order to catch the best photo opportunities. Interested persons should phone the park office for details and dates.