2020 Yakima Basin Riparian Stewardship

Mid Columbia Fisheries (MCF) used funding to support stewardship activities on more than 65 acres along more than 10 miles of river and stream at six riparian and floodplain restoration sites located in the Yakima Basin. The project was a multi-partner collaboration to complete riparian restoration and/or to maintain restoration plantings previously installed on a total of six priority restoration sites in the Yakima Basin: Yakima River (RM 192), Jack Cr, Reecer Cr, Wilson Cr, Little Rattlesnake Cr, and Lower Cowiche Cr. Providing adequate stewardship to restoration projects helped achieve the project goals of enhancing and restoring native riparian and floodplain habitat, watershed function, and aquatic habitat in tributaries and the mainstem throughout the Yakima Basin. Species supported through this stewardship effort include ESA-listed Mid-Columbia Steelhead and bull trout, as well as Coho, Chinook, and Cutthroat Trout. This project will complete multi-year restoration actions and assure that investments-to-date on projects are not lost. Funds will support weed control, replanting, irrigation and fence maintenance.
The sites included in this proposal were selected after MCF staff solicited and received input from partners in the basin on actions of highest salmon recovery priorities for stewardship. Most of these projects were prioritized by SRFB in the past under the initial grant application process. Stewardship at these sites allowed these projects to provide the greatest habitat value for the investments made. MCF also prioritized sites internally, according to highest risk to investments to date, and relative priority to known SRFB and local TAG priorities.

Site maintenance and stewardship are necessary for native plant establishment in arid eastern Washington. Diverse and competitive weed species, high ungulate density, and dynamic precipitation regimes make native plant establishment, which typically takes two to five years, difficult to accomplish. Stewardship tasks under this agreement directly addressed these challenges. Ungulate-deterrent fences were constructed and maintained, mechanical and chemical weed control was completed to reduce competition, and irrigation was provided to new plantings. Where plant mortality was high, native plants were replanted.
At each site, native vegetation rebounded and established. At Yakima RM 192, for example, installed plants that received stewardship had an observed survival rate of 69%. The investments made in these sites will continue to make a difference for salmon in eastern Washington.

See the Final Report Attachment for indiivdual site details.