Vision
Photo credit: Tom Ring
Why We Need the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan
The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan works toward a future with robust agriculture, abundant fisheries, outstanding recreation, healthy forests, and thriving communities.
In 2009, a diverse group of interests in the basin came together with a desire to build a framework for resource management that would address the community’s needs and put long-standing conflicts over water and fisheries behind them. The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan was born: a common-sense, pragmatic approach.
The Integrated Plan covers thirty years, divided into three ten-year implementation phases. Work on the Initial Development Phase is now underway.
What is at Stake?
The Yakima River Basin covers over 6,000 square miles and is home to over 370,000 residents, including 11,000 members of the Yakama Nation. It is also one of the top agricultural producing regions in the state, yielding up to $4.5 billion from crops, and supports a robust outdoor recreation economy that contributes $1.2 billion annually, providing over 14,000 jobs.
The Integrated Plan moves beyond long-standing conflicts over water and fisheries and is taking pragmatic, collaborative steps to address the looming problems of climate change, especially loss of snowpack and earlier spring runoff.
Families, fish and wildlife, businesses, and agriculture all depend on cool, clean, reliable water supplies in the Yakima River Basin to thrive and prosper.
The Benefits
Drought and Climate Resilience
Drought and Climate Resilience
Buffers against drought and climate change through the goal of supplying proratable (junior) water users with 70% water supply during droughts to support agriculture.
Economic Productivity
Economic Productivity
Ensures enough water is available to support the basin’s $4.5 billion agricultural economy.
Jobs
Jobs
Protects 44,300 agriculture and food processing jobs and 14,200 recreation jobs from water-shortage related losses.
Fishery Restoration
Fishery Restoration
Increases populations of salmon and steelhead to self-sustaining levels, which support the Yakama Nation federal treaty rights and the recreation industry.
Recreation
Recreation
Supports an outdoor recreation economy valued at $1.2 billion.
Municipal and Domestic Water Supply
Municipal and Domestic Water Supply
Provides 50,000 acre-feet of water for municipal and domestic development, supporting growth and sustainability for the non-agricultural economy in the Yakima River Basin.
Our Goals
The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan offers a thirty-year approach to meeting the basin’s water needs – now and in the future. Goals for the Integrated Plan are:
- Provide opportunities for comprehensive watershed protection, ecological restoration, and enhancement addressing instream flows, aquatic habitat, and fish passage;
- Improve water supply reliability during drought years for agricultural and municipal needs;
- Develop a comprehensive approach for efficient management of water supplies for irrigated agriculture, municipal and domestic uses, and power generation;
- Improve the ability of water managers to respond and adapt to potential effects of climate change; and
- Contribute to the vitality of the regional economy and sustain the riverine environment.
