YBSA Monthly Report August, 2014
YBSA Monthly Report
August, 2014
Mt. Adams September 1, 2014
Governor Visits Valley About Climate Change: Governor Jay Inslee toured the Yakima Valley on August 27. He praised the Roza Irrigation District’s project to temporally store up to 500 million gallons of water for future use as a step to combat climate change’s impact on the region’s water supply.
The visit is his fifth stop on a statewide climate tour, meeting with businesses and communities threatened by the changing climate and discussing potential solutions.
In the Yakima Basin, climate change could jeopardize the water supply. The mountain snowpack acts as the largest reservoir, but less snow and earlier melting are predicted. Data already show that the spring snowpack has declined 20 percent since 1950, and climate scientists predict the trend will continue, or worsen. Droughts are predicted to become more frequent while the basin’s water supply is already completely spoken for. The Integrated Plan, a 30-year plan for investing in water supply improvements that Inslee signed last summer, aims to help the basin adapt.
Governor Inslee urged the audience to talk about climate change when they talk about the plan’s goals of protecting the region’s agricultural economy and the environment.
For the full article see: http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/latestlocalnews/2431270-8/governors-climate-tour-stops-in-yakima-valley-today
Reintroduction of Salmon: The Yakama Nation transported more than 10,000 adult sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum.
In July 2013 the Yakama Nation celebrated the return migration of fry hatched by sockeye in the lake. Their migration to the Pacific Ocean and back was a cycle completed that hasn’t been witnessed in a hundred years.
Summarizing the transplant program to date, Yakama Nation fish passage biologist and reintroduction program leader Brian Saluskin said, “We put a thousand sockeye in the lake in 2009. The adult fish returning last year were ones hatched in the lake in 2009. In 2010 we reintroduced another 2,500. In 2011 the number rose to 4,100 and in 2012 to 10,000.”
For the full article see the Northern Kittitas County Tribune August 21, 2014 edition.
Central Valley Irrigators Ask Judge to Stop Releases for Salmon: A federal judge denied a request by agricultural water providers in California’s Central Valley to stop approved releases of extra water intended to help salmon in the Klamath Basin. See link below for complete story.
Go to www.ybsa.org for more information about the predictions of future climate changes.
YBSA Monthly Report July, 2014
YBSA Monthly Report
July, 2014
Summer is half over and our growing season is in full swing. Instream flow for fish, out-of-stream water for agriculture and for other uses is still being provided by water stored in the five existing reservoirs (storage control).
Lake Cle Elum late July, 2014
Go to www.ybsa.org for more information about the predictions of future climate changes.