Activity:

Restoration

Restoring, enhancing, improving watershed or stream function and process.

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. 

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.

Smartlowit Ditch Fish Screen

Yakama Nation fisheries staff developed a plan to install fish screens on three irrigation diversion ditches in Simcoe Creek Watershed, which is home to multiple freshwater life history stages of  ESA listed Mid-Columbia River steelhead. These unscreened diversions had historically diverted streamflow and ultimately caused  juvenile Steelhead to be stranded in the canals at the end of the irrigation season. 

Lincoln Meadows Restoration

Lincoln Meadows is a headwaters meadow for Toppenish Creek. Headwater meadows are important because they contain culturally important first foods and function as water storage to maintain summer base flows in streams, which supports aquatic life. Lincoln Meadows has been impacted by a variety of human related activities, such as roads and cattle grazing, that have severely degraded the meadow's capabilities.

South Fork Simcoe Creek Feeder Ditch Fish Screening

A major limiting factor affecting the healthy function of the watershed/habitat is the presence of an unscreened surface water diversion located on South Fork Simcoe Creek. There has been a continuous effort since 2009 to identify three unscreened surface diversions that need to be screened. The Smartlowit diversion was screened in 2010. The feeder ditch on South Fork Simcoe Creek is the second to be screened of the three identified diversions.

Panther Creek Passage Barrier Removal

On August 6, 2011, Yakama Nation Fisheries, Yakama Reservation Watersheds Project (YRWP) completed the implementation of a restoration action at two road/stream interfaces on Panther Creek to improve stream function and facilitate fish movement. Sites within the Panther Creek watershed have been degraded due to various human activities (e.g., grazing, road building, and logging). These problems are most obvious at the site on Panther Creek where Fort Simcoe Road # 80 transects T10N, R13E Section 13 and further downstream in T10N, R13E Section 26.

Durham Irrigation Dam Removal & Roughened Channel Installation

The factors limiting fish passage and habitat degradation at the Durham Irrigation Dam restoration site were the result of an obsolete irrigation diversion dam. This site is located at river mile five on Toppenish Creek. During periods of heightened instream flows, the confines of the dam abutments created a hydraulic pressure gradient, limiting successful fish passage.

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.