Ecological Concerns:

Instream Structural Complexity

Chewuch River Mile 10 Project

The Chewuch River Mile 10 Fish Habitat Enhancement Project (RM10), improves stream complexity by improving available instream habitat, increasing side channel and off channel habitat, and stabalizing eroding banks. The RM10 project encompasses 0.85 miles of river length and provides benefits to spring chinook, Upper Columbia steelhead and bull trout, as well as providing habitat for resident fish species.

Sunnyslope Side Channel

The Sunnyslope Side Channel Project is located on the Wenatchee River at RM (river mile) 1.4. This excavated side channel is approximately 1,350 feet in length. It is connected to a natural side channel of the Wenatchee River at the upstream end and flows into the mainstem of the Wenatchee River at the downstream end. This project is aimed at creating a groundwater fed side channel with an upstream connection during high flows (approximately 7,000 cfs or greater).

Satus Creek Irrigation Dam Removal

Satus Dam—also known as the Shadduck Dam—was installed in Satus Creek over a half-century ago by Wapato Irrigation Project (WIP). The dam was used to divert water to supplement the irrigation water in the Satus District of WIP. The diversion had been obsolete for over 20 years and WIP intended to remove the dam, but lacked funding.

LaSalle High School Fish Habitat Improvement & Floodplain Enhancement

Yakama Reservation Watersheds Project staff completed a bank stabilization and floodplain restoration project in and adjacent to Ahtanum Creek. Anthropogenic and natural factors have led to the rapid erosion of three stream meanders, a discontinuity between the floodplain and the stream, and a domination of non-native invasive vegetation within the project site. Endangered Species Act listed species: Mid-Columbia River steelhead trout and bull trout, Chinook, and coho; utilize Ahtanum Creek for multiple life history stages.

Natural Production Restoration Project

Dramatic declines in the abundance of anadromous Pacific salmonids have occurred over the last century in the Columbia River basin.  Population declines followed harvest, hydrosystem and watershed development, habitat loss and degradation, and reduced survival in freshwater, estuary, and marine environments. These declines are accompanied by greatly reduced levels of natural production due to an array of anthropogenic factors.