Check out our work in the Lower Yakima River!
Cool Water Refuge
Cool water is in short supply in the lower Yakima River and cool water (68 ˚F or colder) is required by species like Sockeye and summer Chinook as they finish their already perilous journey to their spawning grounds. The Lower Yakima River, from Prosser to the Tri-cities typically exceeds this temperature from June through August of each year.
Lower Yakima Water Stargrass Assessment
In the lower Yakima River, lack of scouring spring floods, low summer flows, and abundant nutrients have created conditions for an aquatic native plant, water stargrass, to become much more abundant. Mid-Columbia Fisheries is working with Benton County Conservation District to create an emergency drought-response plan to remove water stargrass from key fish areas in drought years, from below Prosser dam to the confluence with the Columbia River.
Yakima River Delta Enhancement and Assessment
For the past several years, collaborative work has been done to improve fisheries, habitat and water quality in the Yakima Basin. Continuation of this work relies on getting salmon and steelhead past Bateman Island, which sits at the mouth of the Yakima Delta at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers. Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and regional Stakeholders, the now Corps led CAP Section 1135
Restoration Project is in the final stages of the feasibility study anticipated to be complete in 2023 with a community vetted plan for delta restoration.
Wapato Reach Restoration
An effort is underway to restore river and floodplain habitat on the Yakima River. Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group is working with landowners, and local, regional and state partners to develop and implement restoration projects in this critical section of the Yakima River. The 50-mile long Wapato Reach, between Union Gap and Mabton, contains 20,000 acres of floodplain in the middle of the Yakima Valley’s highly fertile, irrigated agricultural lands. It is a critical migration zone for all salmon and steelhead runs and provides key spawning and rearing habitat for fall and summer Chinook.
Yakima River Mile 25 at Mast Farms
The Yakima River Mile 25 Thermal Refuge project is focused on increasing the cool water influence of a disconnected oxbow on the left bank of the Yakima River near Benton City. The goal of the project is to provide a refuge area for migrating adults and improve rearing conditions for juvenile salmonids. This project, coupled with several other in development projects downstream of this location, will capitalize on critical sources of cool water in this very hot portion of the Yakima River. This project is made possible through the generosity of a volunteer landowner.