A Catalyst for Yakima River Floodplain Restoration

Yakima River Washington

Floodplains are where rivers release their energy, where floodwaters are slowed and absorbed into the ground, and where a mosaic of wetlands and side channels can hold all shapes and sizes of fish and wildlife. Yet, across the West, floodplains have been diked, bermed, drained and developed, depriving rivers of their most vital and fertile ecosystems.

When it comes to restoring river habitat, especially for salmon and steelhead, floodplain restoration can have an outsized impact. So, whenever WRC can use land acquisition as a catalyst for restoration, we jump on it.

On Washington’s Yakima River, Western Rivers Conservancy has a rare opportunity to advance a large-scale effort to restore and reconnect more than 650 acres of premier floodplain habitat along four miles of the river—all by conserving a small but pivotal 39-acre tract of land in Kittitas County called Four Seasons Ranch.

Four Seasons Ranch lies within a four-mile stretch of the Yakima called the Ringer Restoration Reach. Here, Kittitas County has been working with landowners for nearly a decade to purchase parcels along the river with the goal of restoring the entire reach to its natural floodplain. The ranch is the last privately held piece of land within this stretch and, as such, offers a rare opportunity to restore floodplain, diminish flood risk and improve public access to the Yakima River.

So, when Four Seasons Ranch went up for sale, Western Rivers Conservancy moved quickly to put the last piece of this major restoration puzzle into place.

In March, WRC signed an agreement to purchase Four Seasons Ranch with the goal of transferring it to the county in late 2023. When that happens, restoration of the Ringer Reach can move forward in earnest. Berms and levees will be gradually removed, or allowed to continue their decay, side channels will be restored, cottonwood trees will be returned to the landscape, and this stretch of the Yakima will once again be free to meander and shift across its natural floodplain.

For the Yakima’s salmon and steelhead, this is a major step in the right direction. Restoring side channels and reconnecting the river to its floodplain will open critical spawning and rearing habitat that has been cut off for decades. This stretch of the Yakima River is also particularly important for its groundwater upwelling, which provides stable yearround water temperatures and thermal refugia for fish during summer and winter extremes.

As small as Four Seasons Ranch is, the impact of conserving it will be huge—a win not just for fish and wildlife, but for the people and communities of the Yakima River, too. g

SUCCESS! Okanogan River

In Washington’s scenic and historic McLoughlin Canyon, WRC has successfully protected two miles of the Okanogan River and a key piece of one of the state’s most important wildlife corridors.

In March, we conserved the 727-acre McLoughlin Falls Ranch by conveying the southern portion of the property to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the northern portion to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Protection of the ranch delivers a triple win, conserving critical habitat for fish and wildlife, returning ancestral lands to the Colville Tribes, and providing new recreational access to a popular reach of the Okanogan River.

Located roughly 30 miles south of the Canada-US border, McLoughlin Falls Ranch is defined by towering stands of ponderosa pine, grassy benches above the river and dramatic, glacier-carved cliffs that rise like sagebrush-covered stairsteps along the meandering Okanogan.

The ranch forms a crucial part of a larger wildlife movement corridor that reaches from the Cascade Mountains to the Kettle River Range. Mule deer migrate between the valley and higher elevations, and the area is home to state-endangered Columbian sharp-tailed grouse and the country’s healthiest population of Canada lynx.

McLoughlin Falls Ranch also possesses healthy stands of riparian forest that shade the river and keep water temperatures low. Conserving that intact river habitat is crucial to the survival of the Okanogan’s imperiled sockeye and steelhead populations.

For the Colville Tribes, who have inhabited the area for millennia, our efforts return important ancestral lands, including historic hunting and fishing sites on the property. And now that a portion of McLoughlin Falls Ranch is under WDFW stewardship, people will forever be able to explore and enjoy this stretch of the Okanogan River at the heart of an extraordinary sagebrush-blanketed gorge. g that sent nearly all the Trinity’s water to California’s Central Valley. Today, the great salmon and steelhead runs of the Klamath’s largest artery are a fraction of their historic numbers.

Despite these challenges, the Trinity remains one of the West’s most important steelhead rivers. It has long been a premier whitewater destination, and over 200 miles of the mainstem, North Fork and South Fork have been designated wild and scenic. Given the caliber of this river, in 2000, the Department of the Interior signed off on a massive interagency, inter-tribal restoration project to restore the anadromous fish runs of the Trinity. That effort has been underway for over two decades, and today, a major component of the project hinges on getting a single property called Benjamin Flats into public ownership.

In October 2022, WRC signed an agreement to purchase Benjamin Flats with the goal of conveying it to the BLM this year, making the next step of this historic project a reality. By permanently protecting the property, we will also conserve a half mile of the Trinity, including riparian habitat that imperiled animals like neotropical songbirds, western pond turtle and yellow-legged frog need to survive. Once restoration is complete, the property will be managed for recreational access by the BLM, guaranteeing this stretch of the Wild and Scenic Trinity River remains open for all to enjoy.

WRC’s work at Benjamin Flats complements our larger efforts across the Klamath Basin, including our creation of a cold-water refuge and salmon sanctuary at Blue Creek, the first major source of cold water that salmon encounter on their way up the Klamath River. WRC has also conserved critical habitat and water on the South Fork Trinity, the Williamson and the South Fork Scott. g