The project objective is to fix a barrier in Tucker Creek, which is a forested tributary that enters the Yakima River near Easton. A present, a concrete flume at Creek Mile 0.7 completely blocks access to productive spawning and rearing habitat for summer steelhead and coho salmon. This project will provide a cost-share with funds from the Bonneville Power Administration for design and construction of a fishway at the barrier. As a result, coho and steelhead will regain access to more than a mile of forested habitat. The reconnected reach in the reconnected reach is intact relative to much of the basin, with an abundance of pools, spawning riffles, and large woody debris. The Yakima mainstem in this reach is managed to convey irrigation water. As a result, the hydrograph has been inverted, with unnaturally high summer flows, lower than normal winter flows, and loss of most channel-maintaining peak flows. When the storage releases are ramped down at the end of the irrigation season, mainstem side channels become dewatered or isolated, which strands and kills juvenile salmonids. One critical component of Yakima Basin anadromous fish restoration is thus reconnection of productive tributaries such as Tucker Creek. This proposal will provide an important cost-share for restoring access into Tucker Creek. Project partners include the Yakama Nations Fisheries Program, Bonneville Power Administration, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
