Accomplishments
Photo credit: Tom Ring
What We Have Achieved
Funding for the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan was authorized in 2013. Since then, we’ve made major progress implementing several elements of the plan.
Cle Elum Fish Passage
Completed Phases I and II and started Phase III construction of Cle Elum Reservoir fish passage.
Manastash Creek Restoration
Removed Reed Diversion in Manastash Creek and restored upstream fish passage. Increased stream flows by switching from creek diversion to canal delivery.
Cle Elum Reservoir
Added 14,600 acre-feet of storage to be used for fishery purposes by raising the maximum level of Cle Elum Reservoir by three feet. Shoreline protection to address erosion and recreational concerns of private property owners is in process.
KDRPP Final EIS
Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant is being designed, with the first-stage environmental review completed, for a project that will access up to 200,000 acre-feet of water already in storage during drought years.
Toppenish Fan
The Toppenish Fan project on the Yakama Reservation is a major restoration project that also enhances groundwater recharge by at least 1,500 acre-feet per year. Irrigation districts and the Yakama Nation are collaborating with the state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to identify and test passive groundwater recharge sites basin-wide.
Teanaway Community Forest
Acquisition and establishment of the 50,241 acre Teanaway Community Forest and completion of its management plan.
Floodplain Restoration
Restoring 3,200 acres of floodplain in the basin.
Habitat Acquisition
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and its partners bought more than 17,000 acres of land from willing sellers, meeting YBIP's 10,000-acre goal for forestland acquisition (in addition to the Teanaway Community Forest) and about half of the 17,000-acre goal for shrub-steppe land acquisition.
Irrigation Canal Improvements
Miles of irrigation canals have been lined and sealed as well as diversions consolidated and additional canals replaced with pressurized pipelines. Together, these efforts save approximately 7,000 acre-feet of water per year from leaks and evaporations.
Sprinkler Improvements
Hundreds of acres of Kittitas County farmland have been converted from rill to sprinkler irrigation, and a portion of water savings placed into trust for instream flows with the help of partners like state Department of Ecology, Trout Unlimited, and Washington Water Trust.
Water Rights
Yakima and Kittitas counties created procedures for domestic well owners to acquire water rights coverage from willing sellers, and in December 2015, Kittitas County launched a new water bank to offset groundwater well pumping impacts on senior surface rights through purchasing senior surface water rights.
Yakima Groundwater Storage
City of Yakima Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) recharge injection station constructed and collecting data.
Bateman Island Fish Passage
Study, design, and outreach conducted for Bateman Island Causeway reconfiguration.