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Columbia Basin Fish Accords
  • Accord Partner: Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

    Read about another Yakama Nation project to restore Hancock Springs in the Methow 
      Kelt reconditioning:
    For the past 10 years, the Yakama Nation has collected 20-30 percent of the wild steelhead run in the Yakima River. The tribe reconditions these post-spawn steelhead, known as kelts, so that they can spawn again. Recent research has shown that an average of 38% survived each year to be released into the Yakima River, in good condition, during the peak of the spawning season.  
     
    The Yakama Nation's Methow Steelhead Kelt Facility was completed in 2012 at Winthrop National Fish Hatchery.

    Restoring groundwater:

    The beaver dam in the foreground is a low-cost, low-tech way to help conserve water in creeks that get low in the summer. Water behind the dam overflows into the creek floodplain and helps recharge the acquifer underground. By placing wood at strategic points in this creek, tribal biologists encourage beavers to build dams in this creek.

    		 

     

    Restoring floodplain function:

    This floodplain restoration in Reecer Creek, outside of Ellensburg, Wash., was a joint project of the Yakama Nation, Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, and many others. By removing a levee (where treeline is on upper right), the floodplain was restored. This enhanced nearly a mile of trout, steelhead and salmon rearing habitat on this tributary to the Yakima River.

    See more here.

     

     

     

     

     

    Bruton Dam on Taneum Creek: Before

    		  

     

          		 

    Reintroducing coho:  The Tribe has been re-introducing coho salmon into the Methow and Wenatchee rviers. In 2011, over 30,000 adult coho from this program returned above Rock Island Dam, making possible the first public coho fishing season in over 30 years.

     

     

  • Watch a video on a Yakama Nation project
    About the Yakama Nation and their Fish Accord

    Located in southwestern Washington State is the 1,130,000-acre reservation that is home to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation. In addition, over 12 million acres of lands were ceded to the federal government during the 1855 Treaty signing. Tribal leaders reserved the right to fish, hunt and gather all of the tribe's traditional foods on the reservation as well as the ceded area.

     

    The Yakama Nation is about 6,300 strong. In the mid-1990s the Yakima nation renamed itself to "Yakama," more closely reflecting the proper pronunciation in their native tongue.

     

    Among the major projects the Yakama Nation is pursuing under its Accord are restoring coho to the Mid-Columbia, steelhead kelt reconditioning, sockeye reintroduction to Lake Cle Elum, and lamprey restoration, as well as extensive habitat restoration and protection of land for fish and wildlife.

     

    Link to:

    Link to Yakama Nation website

    Link to Treaty Tribes/Yakama Accords

    q  Attachment B

    Locations of Yakama Tribes' Fish Accord projects.

    Click here for larger view. 

    The Fish Accord Partnerships

    The Columbia Basin Fish Accords, first signed in 2008, establish a historic partnership among three federal action agencies (BPA, the Corps and Reclamation), six Northwest tribes and three states. 

      

    They provide firm commitments to hydro, habitat and hatchery actions, greater clarity about biological benefits and secure funding for 10 years.

     

    Under these agreements, the federal agencies, tribes and states work together as partners to provide tangible survival benefits for salmon recovery by upgrading passage over federal dams, restoring river and estuary habitat, and through scientific hatchery management. 

     

     

     

     

    Taneum Creek After. A roughened channel constructed after dam removal helps protect against erosion and provides more natural stream conditions. Read more about this project here.

      
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