Industrial and agricultural pollution and toxic contamination, dams that block fish migration and access to spawning habitat—the decline of salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and lamprey in the Columbia River is has many causes. To restore the river and the life that depends upon it, the Yakama Nation Fisheries is employing many and varied strategies, simultaneously. In some areas, habitat recovery is the key; in others, supplementation of salmon runs may need to be the driver.
Yakama Nation Fisheries is managing the Dry Creek Confluence Project, located where it joins Wind River, which aims to improve habitat for threatened steelhead populations.
Columbia River steelhead are iteroparous (able to spawn multiple times). However, as post-spawned steelhead (kelts) attempt to migrate downstream to return to the ocean, their survival is adversely affected by major dams.
This project expands research, monitoring, and evaluation (RM&E) activities conducted by the co-managers in the Yakima Basin (Yakama Nation and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife-WDFW) to better evaluate viable salmonid population (VSP
The goal of this project is to remove trees in preparation for the Bureau of Reclamation’s construction of the Cle Elum Pool Raise: Speelyi Shoreline Protection Project.
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.
The Status and Trends Annual Report (STAR) Project summarizes fish population status and trends, habitat restoration action implementation, Yakama Nation production and reintroduction programs, and Federal mainstem hydrosystem improvements as they