Umatilla River Corridor Acquisitions II

The 2008 PCSRF Umatilla River Corridor Acquisition project successfully secured the largest single remaining private ownership within the CTUIRs priority anadromous fish acquisition area on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The 2008 PCSRF investment of $211,875 leveraged $181,565 in CTUIR Land Acquisition Program matching funds to make the first payment on the 1923 acre conservation acquisition. The lands included 21 separate tracts in Iskuulpa, Meacham and the Umatilla River watersheds including the confluence of Meacham Creek and the Umatilla River. Over 2.5 miles of spawning and rearing habitats for summer steelhead and spring Chinook salmon and 1.5 miles of ephemeral tributary habitat were permanently added to the tribes conservation land base. This included ¾ of a mile of Iskuulpa Creek within the Iskuulpa Watershed Project that was threatened with development and over 550 acres of harvestable timber lands. The CTUIR proposes to continue to retire the debt on this property using PCSRF as available over the next eight years. The FY 2009 PCSRF project funds paid for 11.36% of the debt which equated to 218 acres.

The acquisitions protect watersheds and floodplains providing habitat for Threatened summer steelhead, Threatened bull trout, reintroduced chinook and coho salmon, and selected terrestrial wildlife indicator species. This increase protection from development and resource extraction actions that might degrade aquatic habitats and limit fish production. They include properties adjacent to or within existing protected areas, increasing synergistic benefits.