Pond 5 Reach Riparian Restoration
The Wapato Reach of the Yakima River, between Union Gap and Mabton, has experienced a 40% to 50% aerial cover loss in riparian forest between 1949 and 2015, as documented in the 2021 Wapato Reach Riparian Assessment. Forest loss is caused by the fundamentally impaired flow regime, this impairment being driven by the storage and diversion of water for irrigated agriculture. This rate of forest loss is unsustainable and will lead to the destruction of the majority of the forest by 2100 unless resource managers and funders take corrective action.
Wapato Diversion Reconstruction
The Yakama Nation, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and partners, are designing and constructing improvements to the Wapato Diversion Dam (Diversion) on the Yakima River, about two miles south of Union Gap, Washington. The Diversion project is being developed over several years and consists of two main stages: (1) A series of short-term repairs constructed in March of 2024 and (2) The design and construction of features to achieve long-term, multidisciplinary objectives.