EATONVILLE, Wash. — The four 13-foot-tall figures that stand at the entrance of the Nisqually State Park were found destroyed on Thursday after New Year’s Eve.
William Frank III, a member of the Nisqually Tribal Council, took to Facebook to let others know about the vandalism.
He posted pictures of the damage to the statue, showing that they had either been broken off or knocked entirely from their bases.
Nisqually State Park, located near the foothills of Mount Rainier, has been a collaborative effort between the tribe and the Washington State Parks Commission, starting in 2008.
According to the Washington State Park website, the park lies within the traditional territories of many indigenous tribes in the region, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe.
Tribe also owns 217 acres of land within the park’s boundaries.
It is also the site of the Mashel Massacre, where Captain Hamilton J. G. Maxon led a unit that killed and captured any Indigenous people that were in the region in March 1856.
Land not only has a cultural significance to the tribe but also carries a sacred significance as well.
Frank called the vandalism an act of “bitterness, hate, anger, jealousy, and chaos,” in a Facebook post addressing the incident.
“Our beautiful Nisqaully Park welcome figures were desecrated last night. It is absolutely disturbing and heartbreaking but what this act of hate doesn’t do is bring fear or chaos. This is Washington in 2026. Our presence and our light shines on darkness and casts it forward. This is why we have to keep telling our story now more than ever,” Frank said.
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