Yakama Nation Fisheries Projects

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.

Last updated: Fri, 10/21/2022

In Washington, the White-headed Woodpecker (Dryobates albolarvatus) is listed as a species of concern because of its association with old-growth ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. In 2011, we began a color-marking study of

Last updated: Fri, 10/21/2022

Below you will find research articles on White-headed Woodpecker ecology/biology that we have co-authored with other researchers who started the research through other institutions.  We are grateful to have been able to work with them and we hope

Last updated: Fri, 09/02/2022

This page is intended to provide restricted access to Intergovernmental Master Agreement 56662 ("IG-MA 56662") and associated modifications for contractors and consultants doing business with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

Last updated: Mon, 11/22/2021

What We Know About Upper Yakima Bull Trout Populations: Isolated populations of bull trout living in the Upper Yakima Basin face significant challenges such as blocks to adult migration, degraded instream habitats, and inva

Last updated: Mon, 12/28/2020

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.

Last updated: Tue, 04/28/2020

By the end of the 20th century, indigenous natural coho salmon no longer occupied the mid- and upper-Columbia river basins. Columbia River coho salmon populations were decimated in the early 1900s.

Last updated: Mon, 04/27/2020

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.

Last updated: Mon, 04/27/2020

Summer- and fall-run chinook were once abundant in the Yakima River Basin, but the runs were decimated as a result of historical land and water development and fisheries management practices.

Last updated: Fri, 02/21/2020

Background: During the pre-treaty era, 44,000 to 150,000 coho returned to the Yakima Subbasin annually. By the mid-1980s they were extinct. Habitat loss and overharvest are factors that led to the extinction.

Last updated: Wed, 01/15/2020

The Yakima Basin "Wood Fiesta" Helicopter Aquatic Restoration project is a multi-watershed collaborative effort aimed at enhancing aquatic habitat in remote watersheds that have been greatly altered by past management practices.