YBSA Monthly Report March, 2013

YBSA Monthly Report

March, 2013

Work Group Subjects: The following subjects were presented at the March 13^th Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Work Group:

• Targeted Watershed      Protection and Enhancement. Protection of over 200,000 acres of forest and      shrub steppe. The purchase of 46,000 acres of privately held land in the      Teanaway River Valley would protect unique and critical habitat for      numerous species. The Work Group is proposing $10.5 million for      acquisition of watershed lands.

• Implementation update. The      current capital budget proposal for the 2013-2015 biennium would allocate      $23.6 million for plan implementation. The Yakima Basin stakeholders are      proposing an additional $21.4 million for a total 2013-2015 appropriation      of $45 million. The increase would allow for accelerated implementation of      the Integrated Plan, and fund the acquisition of the highest priority      45,000 acre Teanaway property. Members of the Work group will travel to      Washington DC to request matching federal funds.

• Monies available for the      current biennium to begin early actions on the Integrated Plan in the      Washington State Department of Ecology’s includes habitat ($975,000),      Keechelus to Kachees Pipeline ($2,500,000), preliminary environmental,      geology and feasibility level designs for Bumping and Wymer ($1,250,000).      Federal funding available consists of money for fish passage at Cle Elum      Reservoir ($700,000) and Kachess inactive storage ($450,000).

• Funding is available for      drilling at the sites of the proposed new Bumping and Wymer Dams. The      Wymer Dam technical review project will be completed by the Bureau of      Reclamation and Department of Ecology. The review will include measuring      water temperature that will be returned to the Yakima River when needed      and the cost of piping water from the proposed Wymer Reservoir to the Roza      Canal.

YBSA Position Stated: Sid Morrison (YBSA) started the Work Group roundtable discussion by stating support for the Plan, but the Integrated Plan needs to emphasize storage. Storage is needed to complete the Integrated Plan. YBSA’s position paper was distributed (see www.ybsa.org). There were no comments by members of the Work Group.

YBSA met with Congressman Doc Hastings. Representative Hastings again stated storage needs to be the number one priority in the Plan because storage has been the most difficult to solve for generations.

Go to www.ybsa.org for full report and updated information.