Yakama Nation Superfund Section Technical Consultant RFQ
The Yakama Nation requests qualifications (RFQ) from engineering and consulting firms to accomplish the work elements outlined in this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and provide technical assistance to support YNF’s work on cleaning up and restoring hazardous waste sites in the Columbia River Basin. Yakama Nation will review the response to this RFQ to establish one or more technical support contracts. This RFQ will be considered viable for contracting purposes for FY2018, 2019, and 2020.
The RFQ can be found below in the Project Downloads.
Columbia Basin Toxics Cleanup
The Yakama Nation is a federally recognized Tribe, pursuant to the Treaty of 1855 (12 Stat. 951), with authority to manage, protect and restore treaty resources throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River is frequently referred to and honored as "the life blood of the Yakama Nation." Currently, the Columbia River is a polluted and life-threatening environment for salmon and other aquatic resources primarily because of industrial development.
Pacific Lamprey Project
The Yakama Nation is working to restore natural production of Pacific lamprey to a level that will provide robust species abundance, significant ecological contributions and meaningful harvest within the Yakama Nations Ceded Lands and in the Usual and Accustomed areas.
Twisp River Cattle Management
The Twisp River Cattle Management Project provides riparian protection for Upper Columbia Steelhead in the Twisp River Watershed. The project was done on federal lands in partnership with the United States Forest Service (USFS).
Chewuch River 8 Mile Ranch Project
The 8 Mile Ranch Project (8 Mile Ranch) restores habitat and hydraulic refuge for fish rearing and holding within one reach of the Chewuch River. The work performed provides fish habitat, stream complexity and restores a functional riparian zone in an area currently without any vegetation.
Renchler's Meadow Project
Renchler’ Meadow is an important water storage area for Dry Creek, a tributary of Satus Creek, both of which support culturally important fish species. Meadows are extremely important for absorbing and slowly releasing rainfall and snowmelt to maintain summer base flows in streams. The meadows themselves support culturally important roots that are gathered for food, medicinal and ceremonial purposes by the Yakama people. Renchler's Meadow was impacted by a variety of human related activities in the past, which ultimately caused the stream channel to erode throughout the meadow.
Agency Creek Restoration
Agency Creek enters Simcoe Creek at river mile 9.5, and drains a 23-square-mile watershed. Middle Columbia River steelhead use the creek for spawning and rearing. Steelhead redd counts in Agency Creek have ranged from 4 to 20 since 1999, and the creek is recognized as a spawning aggregation for steelhead recovery purposes. Juvenile steelhead rear through the summer in the creek near its confluence with Simcoe Creek.
North Fork Simcoe Culvert Removal
Yakama Reservation Watershed Project (YRWP) proposed to remove a culvert on North Fork Simcoe Creek just above its confluence with Diamond Dick Creek within the closed area of the Yakama Nation Reservation. The culvert was undersized and a seasonal barrier to ESA listed Middle Columbia River Steelhead (MCRS). At high flow, the culvert became clogged and temporarily re-routed water down the adjacent road stranding fish and damaging the road surface.
Graves Property Culvert Removal
Yakama Nation Fisheries (YNF) removed a six-foot diameter culvert and the concrete fill material associated with it. The culvert was located on Toppenish Creek (watershed area is greater than 200 sq. mi.) near the confluence of Toppenish and Simcoe Creeks, approximately ½ mile west of Brownstown Rd. The culvert is on property recently acquired by the Yakama Nation.
A reach assessment of the area adjacent to the culverts was conducted to identify any risks such as potential head-cuts or areas primed for avulsion.
Toppenish Ridge Stockwell & Pipeline
This project was implemented to assist in managing the migration of cattle from low elevations in the spring to higher elevations in the early summer. Prior to the project, upon cattle turnout on May 1, cattle would quickly travel approximately 25 miles to the headwater meadows of Satus and Toppenish Creeks. Livestock immediately impacted several important high elevation meadows, by overgrazing and by creating hardened cattle trails. These impacts further increased channel incision and bank erosion in these areas..