Eschbach Park Levee Setback & Restoration Design

This project developed a preliminary design to remove portions of the Eschbach Park Levee along the Naches River near Yakima, WA and relocate it landward 800 to 1100 feet from its original location. A setback levee is necessary to provide some level of protection to the former Eschbach Park (which will become the Eschbach Natural Area), along with the Yakima Valley Canal head-works and fish screens. It was determined that the current levee location, adjacent levee systems protecting the City of Yakima Water Treatment Plant and intake, the Gleed ditch intake, and the embankment of State Route 12, contribute to degraded habitat upstream of the project, in the leveed reach, and downstream of the project for a distance of at least 1.6 miles. Relocation of the levee would allow the Naches River to re-occupy its historic channel downstream of the project site within an area of excellent riparian habitat. Fish expected to benefit from the project include Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, and bulltrout.

The immediate effect of the project will be to reconnect 2.1 miles of the Naches River with 41 acres of active floodplain habitat and reconnect 2 side channels that were cut off by the original levee construction in 1974. But the long-term effect of the project will be more far-reaching; it is expected to restore a more natural hydrology to approximately 240 acres. All the downstream floodplain and former side channels improved by the project are owned by Yakima County, WDFW, and the Yakama Nation. Construction of the project is funded through SRFB grant 10-1765 and is expected to take place in late 2012 or early 2013.

The goal of the project is to increase/improve information to help select projects that have a high certainty and benefit. The objective of the project is to determine feasibility of creating or reconnecting off-channel habitat.