Yakama Nation awarded grants to improve fish passages in Yakima River Basin

A boatload of funds – about $4.8 million – will flow into the Yakima River watershed after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded grants nationwide to improve fish passages and habitat Dec. 14.

The projects will help salmon populations recover by improving fish passages, said David Blodgett III, Technical Services Coordinator for Yakama Nation Fisheries.

“We almost saw the extirpation of all our salmon stocks on the Yakima River,” Blodgett III said. “For others that were extirpated, which means locally extinct on the Yakima, like Coho and Sockeye, we’ve been able to do reintroduction projects. We’ve worked tirelessly to improve habitat and connectivity above all the dams on the Yakima River.”

Blodgett said this work will benefit Yakima River communities by increasing fish stocks. He also said improving fishing opportunities in the Yakama Nation, especially on Toppenish Creek, is culturally significant.

“It’s a huge hit to our heritage, it’s a huge hit to our ability for young people to learn fish because they can’t do it. They can’t go back and fish right there on our own reservation,” he said. “The recovery of the species means so much to us. It means the recovery of a very important species to us, but it also would mean the restoration of our ability to pass on our heritage and pass on our culture right in our backyard.”

Yakima River

The largest grant is for $3.6 million over three years. It involves two projects on the Yakima River – hydraulic modeling at Prosser Dam and removing the Bateman Island Causeway in the Tri-Cities.

The causeway is an unpermitted structure that has been in place since 1939 at the Yakima and Columbia rivers’ confluence.

“It eliminated the ability of the Yakima River to naturally flow into the Columbia,” Blodgett III said, “The causeway has been identified as the major limiting factor for restoring fish in the Yakima River Basin.”

The causeway slows the flow of the Yakima River at its mouth, increasing temperatures and sedimentation in the delta. The resulting habitat is unhealthy for salmon, but friendly for predatory species. It also creates a warm thermal barrier which slows or prevents sockeye and chinook salmon from returning to the Yakima River.

Blodgett III said removing the causeway is a critical step, but not the only step.

“It’s going to take much more than that,” he said. “I don’t want to say the causeway removal is our end-all be-all, but it is a huge limiting factor.”

The island itself is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is collaborating with the Yakama Nation. Blodgett said the target date for implementation was 2025 after a public review process in 2023.

Hydraulic modeling at Prosser Dam is about gathering information. Yakama Nation Fisheries officials hope to study the dam and understand how best to make it friendly to fish passage.

“Even though we know there are issues, we have to gather the necessary science,” Blodgett said. “What it takes to get permitting, what it takes to get funding, is ample scientific evidence of things and identification of the issues.”

Snake Creek

The Yakama Nation was also awarded $1.2 million over three years for barrier removal on Snake Creek in the Lower Valley. Snake Creek is a minor tributary of Toppenish Creek, which hosts 25% of the Yakima River’s Mid-Columbia steelhead population.

Blodgett said Yakama Nation Fisheries has tracked fish in the creeks and identified mortality sources on Snake Creek.

“We have years where survival out of Toppenish Creek for juvenile steelhead is around 20%,” he said. “Fish that make it out into Snake Creek basically don’t make it out right now.”

Blodgett said the goal is to keep as many fish as possible in Toppenish Creek by improving diversion technology and culverts so fish can easily return from Snake Creek.

Yakama Nation Fisheries want to see fish thrive and return to healthy and harvestable levels, Blodgett said. He recalls stories from his father and grandfather about fishing on Toppenish Creek. Today, the Endangered Species Act protects those fish populations from harvesting.

“I want to get back to a day where future generations can do that again,” Blodgett said.

There’s still plenty to be done. Yakama Nation Fisheries is collaborating with departments within the Yakama Nation, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and local stakeholders to create broadly supported change.

Blodgett praised the work Yakama Nation Fisheries staff have done to restore fish habitat in the Yakima River Basin.

“We’ll continue to work with our staff to identify ways to fund these projects and deal with these issues,” he said. “We’re relentless and we’re not going to give up.”