The Wenatchee Basin extends from the snowfields, glaciers and steep, forested Cascade Mountains in the northwest, through orchards in the Wenatchee River Valley, to the shrub-steppe of the eastern watershed at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers. The Wenatchee River and its tributaries boast some of the healthiest anadromous fish runs in the Columbia River drainage and contain salmonid habitat that is important to the entire Columbia River region. Regardless spring Chinook in the basin have been federally listed as endangered and bull trout and steelhead have been listed as threatened. Anadromous salmonid populations in the Wenatchee are influenced by activities that occur both within and outside of the watershed, as they must negotiate a 468-mile journey from the mouth of the Wenatchee River to the Pacific Ocean, once as smolts and again as adults. Within the watershed, human alterations are reducing habitat quality and quantity, but WRC is focusing efforts in the basin to improve the fish habitat to help ensure their long-term survival.
Flow Enhancement on Chumstick Creek
WRC has been working on a project that would increase flows in the Chumstick Creek by 0.33 cubic feet per second. This project is part of a larger effort to improve instream flows in the creek, particularly during late summer and early fall when flows are limited in the lower reaches of the creek. Additionally, because the Chumstick basin has been adjudicated, WRC is working with partners on a long-term instream flow strategy to achieve more stable and reliable ecosystem functions.
Improving Fish Habitat in Beaver Creek
WRC is working in conjunction with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Yakama Nation and Cascadia Conservation District to improve passage, flow and entrainment issues in Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Wenatchee River. The collaborative effort of these stakeholders involves creating a strategy to improve spawning and rearing success in the creek. Involving willing landowners to put water instream by lease, acquisition or efficiency upgrades will be critical to achieving flow needs in the creek. The potential for instream flow is 1 to 2 cubic feet per second, which would increase passage in the critical riffles on the lower two miles of the creek.
Recovering Flows in the Lower Wenatchee River
Washington Rivers Conservancy is working with the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and the Pioneer Irrigation District to upgrade and improve efficiency of the current delivery system. The project will upgrade the current conveyance system, change the point of diversion and increase efficiency, and ultimately, add an additional 15 cubic feet per second of instream flow in the lower Wenatchee River.
Working with Hampton Resources
WRC helped Hampton Resources, a forestry and forest-products company, acquire water to increase flows for fish and wildlife in exchange for state approval to use a well for supplying water to one of their facilities.
WRC is easy to work with, proactive and willing to be part of the solution to a tough environmental issue.
Blake S. Rowe | Senior Vice President – Timber
HAMPTON RESOURCES Inc.
