YBSA Monthly Report October, 2016

YBSA Monthly Report

October, 2016

Growing Season: Another successful growing season has been completed in the Yakima Basin. Irrigation water was available through the summer and fall. Snowpack in the Cascade Mountains again provided the water necessary to supplement the amount of storage. Snowpack provides 2/3 of the water necessary for instream flow (fish) and out of stream use (agriculture). Every year the snow in the mountains is our 6^th reservoir. This winter’s snowpack will determine the amount of water available for 2017.

Integrated Plan Storage & Mitigation: The Integrated Plan storage projects continue to be studied. A number of fish passage projects and acquisition of land for preservation have been completed. The estimated cost for construction, operation, and mitigation have not been presented. The 5 proposed storage projects have to identify the costs and explain how and who will pay for them. Mitigation means additional money has to be spent to maintain the environmental and personal losses that would be destroyed by building or increasing the size of the reservoirs.

Lake Cle Elum Fish Passage: The Lake Cle Elum fish passage project is moving forward. The road and bridge to access the west side of the Cle Elum River below the spillway is nearly complete at an estimated cost of $4.5 million. The helix fish passage facility would allow juvenile salmon to escape the lake. The trap and haul facility would catch the salmon in the river below the dam and haul the salmon to the lake. The estimated completion time is approximately 3 years with costs still to be determined.

Salmonids from the Columbia River: A plan to improve the movement of salmonids from the Columbia River through the lower Yakima River is to be developed to assist the salmonids to reach the upper reaches of the Yakima River to Spawn.