RECLAMATION Managing Water in the West DRAFT: Yakima Basinwide Tributaries Programmatic Investigation Report Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Pacific Northwest Region U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Columbia-Cascades Area Office Yakima, Washington August 2018 MISSION STATEMENTS U.S. Department of the Interior Protecting America’s Great Outdoors and Powering Our Future The Department of the Interior protects America’s natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies the energy to power our future. Bureau of Reclamation The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Columbia-Cascades Area Office Yakima, Washington August 2018 ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS AID Ahtanum Irrigation District BPA Bonneville Power Administration Ecology Washington State Department of Ecology ESA Endangered Species Act FPEIS Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement FR Federal Register Integrated Plan Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan KCCD Kittitas County Conservation District KCT Kittitas Conservation Trust KRD Kittitas Reclamation District MCR Middle Columbia River NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service PEIS Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Reclamation Bureau of Reclamation RM river mile TCC Taneum Canal Company Title XII Title XII of Public Law 103-434, the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1994, Yakima Basin Water Enhancement Project USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service WIP Wapato Irrigation District Yakama Nation Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation YBFWRB Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board YTID Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District YRBWEP Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project This page intentionally blank Yakima Basinwide Tributaries Programmatic Investigative Report CONTENTS Chapter 1. Purpose ........................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2. Background .................................................................................... 3 2.1 Tributary Enhancement Achievements ............................................................. 6 2.1.1 Taneum Creek Tributary Enhancement .......................................... 7 2.1.2 Manastash Creek Tributary Enhancement ...................................... 9 2.2 Tributary Enhancement in Progress ................................................................ 10 2.2.1 Cowiche Creek Water Exchange Project ..................................... 10 2.2.2 Toppenish Creek Proposed Tributary Enhancement Project ........ 11 Chapter 3. Connection to Various Plans and Studies ................................. 11 Chapter 4. Key Tributaries and Recommended Measures ........................ 14 4.1 Tributaries Above Upper Reservoirs .............................................................. 16 4.2 Upper Yakima Tributaries North .................................................................... 18 4.3 Upper Yakima River Tributaries South .......................................................... 20 4.4 Middle Yakima Tributaries ............................................................................. 22 4.5 Lower Yakima River Tributaries .................................................................... 24 Chapter 5. Next Steps ..................................................................................... 26 Chapter 6. Benefits ......................................................................................... 26 Chapter 7. Conclusion .................................................................................... 27 Chapter 8. References .................................................................................... 28 Chapter 9. Letters of Support ....................................................................... 31 Appendix A - Maps ........................................................................................... A-1 i FIGURES Figure 1. Location of the Yakima River basin and its numerous tributaries ............................. 1 Figure 2. Yakima River basin reservoirs and tributary areas: Tributaries Above Upper Reservoirs; Upper Yakima Tributaries North; Upper Yakima Tributaries South; Middle Yakima Tributaries; and Lower Yakima Tributaries .................................................................. 5 Figure 3. Number of adult steelhead migrating upstream past Roza Dam in the Yakima River. Habitat restoration, fish passage, water conservation, and water exchange projects implemented in tributaries (Taneum and Manastash creeks, Teanaway River, and elsewhere) have contributed to improvements in steelhead production. ....................................................... 7 Figure 4. Taneum Creek at Bruton Diversion Dam prior to dam removal. The dam was located 1.6 miles from the mouth of the creek and constructed in the late 1960s without fish passage facilities ......................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 5. Bruton Dam removal in process in 2009. ................................................................... 9 Figure 6. Fish can migrate freely through the roughened channel on Taneum Creek after removal of the Bruton Diversion Dam ........................................................................................ 9 Figure 7. Tributaries currently enhanced through KRD canal deliveries of conserved water.12 Figure 8. Tributaries Above Upper Reservoirs are discussed in Section 4.1. Basinwide tributary enhancement above the Keechelus, Kachess, and Cle Elum reservoirs ....................... 2 Figure 9. Upper Yakima Tributaries North as discussed in Section 4.2. Basinwide tributary enhancement projects on the North side of the Kittitas Valley that cross the KRD Canal below the reservoirs ............................................................................................................................... 2 Figure 10. Upper Yakima Tributaries South as discussed in Section 4.3. Tributaries Intersecting KRD Main Canal are south of the Yakima River ................................................... 2 Figure 11. Middle Yakima Tributaries as discussed in Section 4.4. Map shows tributaries flowing into the Naches River above Tieton Dam at Rimrock Reservoir .................................. 2 Figure 12. Lower Yakima Tributaries as discussed in Section 4.5. Satus Creek and Toppenish Creek both flow into the lower Yakima River .......................................................... 2 TABLES Table 1. Tributary area descriptions discussed in this section. ................................................ 16 Table 2. YRBWEP enhancement measures for Tributaries Above Upper Reservoirs ............ 18 Table 3. YRBWEP enhancement measures for Upper Yakima Tributaries North .................. 20 Table 4. YRBWEP enhancement measures for Upper Yakima Tributaries South .................. 21 Table 5. YRBWEP enhancement measures for Middle Yakima Tributaries ........................... 24 Table 6. YRBWEP enhancement measures for Lower Yakima Tributaries ............................ 25 ii Yakima Basinwide Tributaries Programmatic Investigation Report Executive Summary This programmatic tributary investigation report meets the requirements of Public Law 103- 434, the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1994, Title XII, Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project (YRBWEP) and describes measures designed to increase fish abundance and productivity and enhance irrigation reliability throughout the Yakima River basin. The Yakima River basin is located in south central Washington State (Figure 1). The basin supports one of the most productive agricultural areas in the State, and production is valued at more than $4.481 billion dollars (WSDA, 2018). The agriculture industry is reliant on developed irrigation projects that have an impact on native populations of salmon and trout within the basin. Figure 1. Location of the Yakima River basin and its numerous tributaries. The Yakima River and tributaries historically supported culturally and economically significant salmonid runs of Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka), steelhead (O. mykiss), Coho (O. kisutch) and Chinook (O. tshawytscha). In addition to anadromous fishes, the headwaters of Yakima River tributaries supported healthy populations of fluvial and adfluvial Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Of these, Sockeye, Coho, and summer run Chinook salmon were extirpated from the basin, and both Middle Columbia River (MCR) steelhead and Bull Trout Yakima Basinwide Tributaries Programmatic Investigation Report 1 are currently protected under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as threatened. Historically, water rights within the Yakima River basin were highly contested, more so during times of drought. Water shortages and litigation between water users led to mistrust between State, Federal, Tribal, and local entities. This led to the adjudication of surface water rights starting in 1977 and authorization of YRBWEP in 1979 to improve water supply, conserve water, and improve fish passage. Greater emphasis on water conservation, identifying additional storage needs, and tributary enhancement were amended into the legislation that authorized YRBWEP in 1994. In 2009, the Bureau