The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan as Seen From Kennewick Irrigation District By Dean Dennis
The Yakima River Canyon.
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Great things have been accomplished under the YBIP, benefitting fish, families, and farms across the entire Yakima River basin. Most of the habitat projects are focused on the upper tributaries and main stem of the river above this point, where most of the spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous fish species occurs. Improving ecological conditions and providing fish passage where needed in the watershed,
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especially those actions that benefit reintroduced sockeye salmon and Endangered Species Act–listed steelhead and bull trout, will benefit everyone in the basin and region. With much of YBIP focus on the upper Yakima River, KID has been a strong proponent of fish restoration and enhancement projects in the lower river. KID provided direct financial support to the YBIP Lower River Smolt Survival Study to the tune of $30,000 for seven receivers that were needed to track tagged outmigrating smolts. The KID board of directors unanimously supported this action because we knew that it is critically important to the success of the YBIP to obtain accurate information regarding smolt outmigration in the lower river. In addition, KID has sent representatives three times to meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, DC, to successfully advocate for section 1135 funding for assessment and implementation of the Bateman Island causeway removal project. The Bateman Island project would remove part of the causeway that links Bateman Island to the mainland, allowing flows from the Yakima River and the Columbia River to circulate around the island, improving conditions for salmonids as they move in and out of the Yakima River. Cold-water refugia are places in the Yakima River that contain cooler water inputs from springs, drains, and seepages that migrating salmon use for thermal relief as they migrate up the river.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT.
he Kennewick Irrigation District (KID) serves over 65,000 agricultural and residential customers across 20,201 acres (11,000 of agricultural land) in central Washington’s Tri-Cities area near the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia Rivers. The increasing population and development of the area and the droughts that have affected it over the past few years, especially in 2015, mean that KID’s water supplies have been put under pressure. KID, like other local irrigation districts, has an interest in increased water efficiency, higher flows, and more storage, all of which the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan (YBIP) aims to deliver. After retiring from the Navy, Dean Dennis worked at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and was elected to KID’s board of directors in 2013. He has since served for 1 year as vice president and for 2 years in his current role as president. In this article, Mr. Dennis tell us about the significance of the YBIP for KID and Washington State as a whole.
