NOAA Awards $7.2 Million for Teanaway River Salmon and Steelhead Restoration
Collaboration to enhance more than 17 miles of river near Cle Elum
ELLENSBURG, Wash. — NOAA Fisheries has awarded $7.2 million to Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group (MCF) for the Teanaway Forks Restoration project, which will restore floodplain habitat for Chinook salmon and federally threatened steelhead in the headwaters of the Yakima River. The project is one of just 16 selected nationwide from nearly 350 proposals in a very competitive $103 million NOAA habitat restoration funding round.
Historic splash damming, logging, roads, and grazing have cut the beds of the Teanaway River’s forks down to bare bedrock in many places, leaving little spawning gravel and few connections to the floodplain. Even so, 28 to 40 percent of Upper Yakima steelhead spawn in the watershed each year. Restoration work will create more pools, cover from predators, and food availability, leading to improved conditions for juvenile steelhead and salmon. “This award is a vote of confidence in years of collaborative work in the Teanaway,” said Rebecca Wassell, Mid-Columbia Fisheries’ Yakima Basin Program Director. “Together with the Yakama Nation and our partners, we have a rare chance to
reverse more than a century of damage and give wild steelhead and salmon the rivers and floodplains they need.”
Yakama Nation Fisheries, MCF’s primary partner, will lead construction on the Middle Fork and Middle Creek.
“The Teanaway, at the headwaters of the Yakima River, has long been important to the Yakama people, with village sites and seasonal gathering areas along this major tributary”, said Yakama Nation Fisheries Program Manager Joe Blodgett. “Today, these headwaters are the source of water for all of our fish. Restoring floodplains and riparian areas lets this landscape store water and release it when fish need it most, benefiting the entire ecosystem. We’re grateful for this funding and excited to partner with Mid-Columbia Fisheries on this work.”
The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board and Departments of Ecology, Natural Resources, and Fish and Wildlife are key supporters of the restoration work, supplying funding, trees to put in the rivers, monitoring expertise, permit assistance, and project coordination. The USDA Forest Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are providing additional support. MCF is also joined by the member partners of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, the Teanaway Community Forest Advisory Committee, and a steering committee of state, federal, tribal, and local partners. Central Washington University, Trout Unlimited volunteers, and high school students from the Yakima and Toppenish school districts will help monitor, plant, and care for the restored reaches.
About Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group
Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group is a Central Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring wild salmonid populations, their habitats, and ecosystem functions through restoration, protection, education, and community involvement. For nearly 30 years, MCF has partnered with tribes, agencies, landowners, and communities across the Yakima Basin and Mid-Columbia region. Learn more at www.midcolumbiafisheries.org.
For the full list of NOAA-funded projects, visit: NOAA Fisheries: $103 Million in NOAA Funding Awarded to Restore Habitat for Fisheries
For a snapshot of the significance of channel incision in the Teanaway Rivers, see this video by the University of Washington: https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/04/15/historic-logging-site-shows-first-human-caused-bedrock-erosion-along-an-entire-river/
For an example of how river restoration can increase resilience to wildfire, see this video from Central Oregon Daily News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGpEWFr_WE
Media Contact:
Merritt Mitchell, Outreach and Communications Director
Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group
merritt@midcolumbiafisheries.org
Read to find out how partners are working together to restore the Teanaway!
