YKFP, BPA, USFWS to host second annual Klickitat & White Salmon Rivers Fisheries and Watershed Science Conference (12/23/08)
The date for the 2009 science conference has been set for March 10, 2009, and will be held as last year at the Discovery Center in The Dalles, OR. Information on presentations will be posted on this site in the coming weeks.
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BPA Finalizes EIS on Lyle Falls Fish Passage Project (11/19/08)
Bonneville Power Administration has finalized the Environmental Impact Statement for the Lyle Falls Fish Passage Project on the Klickitat River. The Final EIS consists of changes to the Draft EIS, written comments and responses. The project seeks to improve existing fish passage at Lyle Falls to increase escapement to the upper subbasin and to facilitate collection and monitoring of biological information for future fishery management. Based on the Final EIS, BPA expects to make a decision on any action on the project in Dec. 2008. This record of decision will be made available to the public; activities could begin in Spring 2009.
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First Tule Fall Chinook Spawning above Condit Dam since 1913 thanks to Pilot Project (10/10/08)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently completed a test run of a collaborative project which involved trapping adult Tule fall chinook salmon, native to the White Salmon River, in the lower river and transporting them above the impassable Condit Dam for release. YN Fisheries assisted in this effort. The project would be repeated next fall to salvage as many naturally produced spawners in the lower river as possible before the dam's scheduled removal in October 2009 so their eggs won't be inundated by the sediment-laden waters released from behind the dam. Biologists enumerated 69 redds between Condit Dam and Husum Falls.
Chinook transported above Condit Dam (The Columbian, 9/18/08)
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The NOAA draft plan for the first time incorporates multiple locally-generated recovery plans, including the Yakima Basin Fish & Wildlife Recovery Board's Yakima Steelhead Recovery Plan, a locally-developed recovery plan for the Walla Walla and Touchet Rivers drafted by the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board, a plan drafted by the State of Oregon for the Umatilla, John Day, Deschutes and Hood River basins, and plans drafted by NOAA Fisheries for the White Salmon, Klickitat and Rock Creek Basins.
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Klickitat Anadromous Fishery Master Plan Submitted to NWPCC(03.31.08)
The Yakama Nation submitted the Klickitat River Anadromous Fisheries Master Plan to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to fulfill Step I requirements for major projects to reform hatchery practices. The Yakama Nation proposes to implement improvements to the existing Klickitat Hatchery near Glenwood, Washington, as well as to the Lyle Falls Fishway and broodstock collection facility, and the Castile Falls Fishway and escapement monitoring facility on the Klickitat River.
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Tribes and Federal Agencies Sign Historic Salmon Accord
The recent Columbia Basin Partnership observed at the signing ceremony on May 2, 2008 at Horsethief Lake State Park near Dallesport, WA formalized a new working relationship between Columbia Basin tribes, states, and federal agencies with responsibility to manage and protect Pacific Northwest salmon and their habitats. In the Klickitat Subbasin this new partnership provides secured resources to continue the gains in habitat preservation and restoration, implementation of needed hatchery reform measures, and the ability to monitor management actions over time. More.
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Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Lyle Falls Fish Passage Project
Available for Public ReviewBonneville Power Administration (BPA) has prepared a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Lyle Falls Fish Passage project located on the lower Klickitat River in Klickitat County, Washington. The draft EIS is available for public review. The proposed action would modify the existing fishway and be designed to safely and more effectively allow adult fish to move through the existing Lyle Falls into spawning areas of the upper reaches of the Klickitat River. The project would facilitate collection and monitoring of biological information for future fishery management. Draft available at www.efw.bpa.gov/environmental_services/Document_Library/Lyle_Falls/. BPA will host a public meeting on the draft EIS on Wednesday, April 16, 2008, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Lyle Lions Club Community Center, located at 5th Street and State Highway 14 in Lyle, Washington. During the meeting, BPA and others involved in the project will present an overview of the draft EIS, discuss the project, reply to questions and receive any written comments.
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YKFP and Partners host first Klickitat & White Salmon Rivers Fisheries and Watershed Science Conference
The Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, OR was the venue for the first annual science conference for the Klickitat and White Salmon rivers on Feb. 27, 2008. Sixteen speakers presented a wealth of fisheries and watershed-related information to 110 attendees representing a spectrum of organizations from municipal and county governments, timber interests, state and federal agencies, citizens’ groups, non-profits and tribes. The YKFP would like to thank our partners, Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Discovery Center, the presenters and all participants for helping to make this year’s conference a success. We look forward to expanding the event next year, and hope to see you there—stay tuned!
Links to presentations given at the conference are available by clicking on the title of the presentation on the agenda page.
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Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project members tour Lyle Falls (Sept. 2007)
Members of the management board of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) project, which monitors the movement of marine animals (such as juvenile salmon) through an array of listening stations set along the west coast of North America, toured Lyle Falls on Sept. 6. YKFP staff and POST Project Coordinators discussed the possible inclusion of Klickitat Hatchery and wild salmon stocks as an addition to this study.
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The History Channel segment to feature Lyle Falls, YKFP rotary screw trap (August 2007)
The History Channel came to the Klickitat River July 2 to film a segment on "traps" for its series Modern Marvels. The episode, first airing August 27, will focus on fish trapping technologies of the Columbia Basin and the importance of salmon to the cultural identity of the Pacific Northwest. Filming locations were on the Klickitat River (Lyle Adult trap, dipnet fishery, and rotary screw trap) and at Bonneville Dam Adult Fish Collection Facility.
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Sin Wit Ki ("All Life on Earth") Yakama Nation Fisheries newsletter (Adobe .pdf), Spring 2007
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YKFP's Melvin Sampson Receives Leadership Award at Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Gala (May 2007)
As part of the annual Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum (Spirit of the Salmon) Gala celebrating salmon and Native American art, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission recognizes and honors individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to salmon restoration with the Spirit of the Salmon Awards. At this year's gala on May 12 at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon, Melvin Sampson, policy advisor and project coordinator for the Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project, was conferred a Leadership Award for his years of outstanding work on the YKFP.
Leadership
Award
"For making progress while surmounting obstacles that would bar the way to one less bold."
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Columbia Land Trust purchases land along Klickitat River
from Hancock Timber Resources Group
Columbia Land Trust purchased the "old haul road" and five adjoining parcels of land totaling 480 acres: 15 miles of Klickitat River waterfront, 10.7 miles of it riparian and floodplain in some of the most productive salmonid habitat in the lower river. Klickitat Watershed Enhancement Project will partner with Columbia Land Trust in restoring access to ideal floodplain and back channel spawning and rearing habitat, cut off for decades by the haul road, through a Phase II Salmon Recovery Grant.
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Lyle Point returns to the Yakama Nation (May 2007)
Lyle Point, known as Nanainmi Waki ' Uulktt (place where the wind blows from two directions) to the Yakama people, is a culturally significant 33-acre peninsula at the confluence of the Klickitat and Columbia Rivers. The land has been a village of the Cascade and Klickitat bands and a fishing site for thousands of years, but was lost to the Yakama when white settlers moved to the area in the mid-1800s. The Trust for Public Lands, through its Tribal & Native Lands Program, began its effort to protect Lyle Point in 1992 when a developer bought the land with the intention of placing a gated community there. The land was returned to the Nation in May 2007. The conveyance ends a decades-long effort by the Yakama to regain land which is now a protected burial site of the Yakama Nation.
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Klickitat Hatchery Open House (May 2006)
The Klickitat Hatchery Open House celebration marked the transfer of hatchery operation from state management to Tribal management, and honored those within both the Yakama Nation and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife that made the transition a success. This State to Tribal transfer took a tremendous level of effort and commitment from all parties and is the first of its kind in the nation. The open house allowed WDFW and YN the opportunity to showcase the results of these efforts and highlight plans for the future. Inclusion of Klickitat Hatchery management into the co-managed Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project now provides the institutional background to implement hatchery reform measures for this vital hatchery. The YN and WDFW have worked collaboratively since 1983 in both the Yakima and Klickitat basins to integrate hatchery reform measures with habitat protection and restoration in order to increase natural production of salmon and steelhead.
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YN's Bill Sharp and Shirley Alvarado present retiring NOAA Mitchell Act coordinator RZ Smith with embroidered Pendleton blanket for his 30 years of service. |
 Yakama Nation staff prepares salmon & buffalo. Background – Hatchery staff conducts tour. |
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Klickitat Hatchery Open House - List of Speakers
Lavina Washines Yakama Nation, Tribal Council chairwoman
Phil Rigdon Yakama Nation, deputy director of Natural Resources
Bill Sharp Yakama Nation, YKFP Klickitat Basin coordinator
Lynn Hatcher NOAA Fisheries, Interior Columbia salmon recovery coordinator
Larry Peck Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, deputy director
Chuck Perry Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, commissioner
RZ Smith NOAA Fisheries, Columbia River Mitchell Act director
Bob Lohn NOAA Fisheries, Northwest regional administrator
Larry Cassidy Northwest Power & Conservation Council, WA. state member
Jeff Koenings Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, director***
Improvements completed at Castile Falls Fishway
Scanned article "Underground Salmon" (Adobe .pdf file) from the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries (CRITFC) publication Wana Chinook Tymoo (Columbia River Salmon Stories), winter 2007 edition, about recent construction activities to restore fish passage to the upper Klickitat basin at Castile Falls.
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