SNAPSHOT
Just outside of Yakima, WRC is partnering on a complex project with landowners who irrigate hundreds of acres ofhay and pasture with water diverted from Cowiche Creek. During late summer and early fall, the creek has been chronically dewatered and, in some stretches, runs completely dry. To address this challenge, WRC is helping stakeholders substitute irrigation water from other sources. About 20 miles of Cowiche Creek will benefit from permanent flow increases of up to 7.9 cubic feet per second, a biologically significant boost of at least 100 percent during the peak irrigation season. This infusion of flow will restore passage for imperiled steelhead, spring chinook and coho, and provide spawning and rearing habitats that can once again function as part of a healthy stream corridor in the community.
PARTNERS: Bonneville Power Administration, Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program, North Yakima Conservation District, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Conservation Commission, Yakama Nation.
Just outside of Yakima, WRC is partnering on a complex project with landowners who irrigate hundreds of acres ofhay and pasture with water diverted from Cowiche Creek. During late summer and early fall, the creek has been chronically dewatered and, in some stretches, runs completely dry. To address this challenge, WRC is helping stakeholders substitute irrigation water from other sources. About 20 miles of Cowiche Creek will benefit from permanent flow increases of up to 7.9 cubic feet per second, a biologically significant boost of at least 100 percent during the peak irrigation season. This infusion of flow will restore passage for imperiled steelhead, spring chinook and coho, and provide spawning and rearing habitats that can once again function as part of a healthy stream corridor in the community.
PARTNERS: Bonneville Power Administration, Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program, North Yakima Conservation District, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Conservation Commission, Yakama Nation.
