Former Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and current Senior Policy Counsel at Van Ness Feldman has been honored by his former colleagues in Congress with their proposal to name the visitor center at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on Washington's Puget Sound the "Norm Dicks Visitor Center."

Dicks, who retired last year as the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, was known as a champion for conservation funding and oversaw the largest budget increase in the history of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

"I deeply appreciate my colleagues thinking of me," said Dicks.  "I worked very hard over 25 years on Nisqually."

The refuge, which was established in 1974 and restored by the removal of dikes in 2009, is the largest estuary restoration project in the Pacific Northwest and is critical to salmon recovery in the region. Dicks said others also deserve credit, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nisqually Indian Tribe, river advocates and the state of Washington.

"This has been one of the projects I've felt very strongly committed to," Dicks said. "To see the salt water coming in on every tide is amazing. ... It was a team effort."