 McKenney founded a group called "Citizens of the Future" which circulated a petition to save the park from development, and was ultimately successful because of a trial in the Washington Supreme Court.McKenny is also credited with being "Among the first to articulate the need for the Nisqually River" delta in an era when the Port of Tacoma considered dredging the delta for a deepwater harbor and the City of Seattle considered putting a garbage dump there.In the longterm, McKenny's activism resulted in the establishment of the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.