How woody debris becomes orca food

Southern Resident killer whales feed on Chinook salmon that rely

on degrading logs for spawning in the Yakima Basin floodplains

 

Last month, I was lucky enough to tag along with a large group of Yakima River Basin stakeholders to witness firsthand a massive floodplain restoration project in the Teanaway Community Forest that will benefit Southern Resident orcas.

As we arrived at the first staging area, the sounds of a tandem rotor helicopter could be heard long before we could see it. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a bundle of large tree trunks lifted into the sky, on their way to their new home in the Teanaway River.

“Why on earth are we dumping logs into a waterway? " you may ask. "And what does this have to do with our Southern Resident Killer Whales?”

Well, let's look at the Southern Resident killer whales and their diet.
   

Orcas feed at Columbia River mouth

Our resident orcas hunt near the mouth of the Columbia River from January to April, which just happens to be the same time spring Chinook are schooling for their upstream migration to their spawning grounds high in the Cascades.

The Chinook’s large size and high fat content provide orcas with the high calories vital to maintaining their health and replenish fat reserves that will get them through leaner times.

Spring Chinook and other salmon species begin their life in streams and rivers that provide clean and cool water spawning grounds. This important habitat is found throughout the Columbia River Basin, including the Teanaway River and its tributaries in the Yakima River Basin.

However, Chinook numbers are in peril. Along with  the overall declining numbers of salmon species, the orcas' food source is becoming scarcer and scarcer. The survival and recovery of our resident orca population hinges on an adequate source of food available year round.

Orca feeds on Chinook salmon (Photo by John Durban (NOAA Fisheries/Southwest Fisheries Science Center)

The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan and the Teanaway Community Forest

For over a century, loggers and settlers in the Teanaway altered the landscape to meet their needs. This included the removal of woody debris from these waterways to allow for the easy transportation of timber downstream. Their actions degraded floodplains, reduced channel diversity, increased stream incisement, and devastated vital spawning and rearing habitat for both anadromous and resident fish.

In 2013, the legislature appropriated funds for the state to purchase the 50,000-plus acres in the Teanaway from a private landowner. That same year, the Teanaway was designated as the first community forest in the state. Community forests are managed not only for habitat restoration, conservation, and preservation, but also as a sustainable working forest.

As a sustainable working forest, grazing, logging, and recreational opportunities are overseen in a way to avoid critical habitats and restoration areas, while maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Restoration of both upland and aquatic habitat, as outlined in the Teanaway Community Forest Management Plan, is key to restoring the Teanaway’s overall health. This includes floodplains.

By restoring the floodplain, we are also restoring both aquatic and surrounding upland habitats. Flood events are when the magic happens.

During flood events, the logs and root wads placed in strategic locations slow streamflows by forcing the water to move over the wide and flat adjacent floodplain. As the water spreads across the floodplain, it puts its habitat enhancing powers to work.

Floodplains not only help control streamflows during flood events, they also:

• Act as a sponge to refresh the groundwater table
• Provide resting pools for fish
• Increase stream channel diversity
• Reduce flood damage risks downstream
• Create and maintain vital spawning and rearing habitat for spring Chinook and other anadromous and resident fish

The Tour

Inspecting Jungle Creek we got a close up look at what appeared to be a healthy stream, with its crystal clear water and a streambed lined with large beautifully rounded rocks. However, its appearance was deceptive of its true health, according to our tour guide, Scott Nicolai with the Yakama Nation. He explained how despite the looks of the stream, it is actually degraded to the point that fish can no longer be supported.

“It’s important to recognize that we are only giving the stream what it needs to recover from decades of degradation, the stream does the rest of the restoration itself (during high flows),” Nicolai said.

Large wood, placed in Jack Creek in 2012.

Our next stop was at nearby Jack Creek where large logs have already been placed in the stream. This gave us an idea of what Jungle Creek and other creeks will look like once they've been restored with logs and woody debris. The first thing I noticed was how the logs looked like they were always a part of the landscape, blending in easily with the surrounding habitat.

We are eager to see the results of the Jack Creek floodplain restoration once a large flood event occurs.

Project Sites

In 2018, the Teanaway Floodplain Restoration project restored approximately 150 acres of floodplains by placing more than 5,500 logs in 8 miles of Teanaway tributaries including:

• Jungle Creek
• Rye Creek
• Lick Creek
• Indian Creek
• Middle Creek
• Dickey Creek
• First Creek
• Carlson Creek

This year, logs and root wads were placed in approximately three miles on the North Fork Teanaway. We anticipate additional large wood floodplain restoration work to continue in 2020. Additional Floodplain Restoration project sites outside of the Teanaway Community Forest will place over 5,400 logs in 24 miles of creeks and rivers including:

• Swauk Creek
• Umtanum Creek
• North Fork Manastash Creek
• Little Naches River
• Little Rattlesnake Creek
• Satus Creek

In addition to the Teanaway Floodplain Restoration project, the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan supports a wide variety of projects benefiting the farms, families and fish of the Yakima River Basin including our fish passage project at Cle Elum Dam and the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant water supply project. For additional information regarding the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, please visit our Department of Ecology website.

For more information regarding the Yakama Nation Fisheries Floodplain Restoration project, please visit their website, or contact Scott Nicolai, project manager, at nics@yakamafish-nsn.gov.

Some factoids

• More than 80 percent of the Southern Resident orcas' diet consists of Chinook salmon
• The average orca must consume 18-25 adult salmon daily just to meet its energy requirements
• The Southern Resident population must catch a minimum of 1,400 salmon daily to sustain their calorie needs, which adds up to at least half a million salmon a year
• For the population to grow to 140 whales, an allowance of one million salmon a year is required
• Female salmon lay 2,000 to 10,000 eggs; less than one percent survive and return to their spawning grounds to produce the next generation.

By Jennifer Stephens, Environmental Specialist, Office of Columbia River

Watching the Water

Some Yakima Basin irrigators' water rationed, some shut off

Stream temperatures affecting fish throughout Central WA, north and south

The water supply forecast continues to deteriorate across the state on both sides of the Cascade Range, and drought is being felt particularly on the Olympic Peninsula, as reported in our recent blog.

While drought impacts are more typical in the arid Yakima River Basin, water supply conditions here have dropped off significantly in the last month. Despite some rainfall this spring and a big snowstorm in February, the snow in the mountains is virtually gone.

Rimrock Reservoir stands at 80 percent capacity

Coupled with the lack of snow in the mountains and drier conditions, Ecology forecasts the total natural water supply available to the Yakima’s three watersheds comprising 6,150 square miles will be 75 percent of normal, May to September. Hence drought was declared in the Upper Yakima, Lower Yakima and Naches watersheds this spring.

That lack of snow means there’s less water to go around for Yakima Valley irrigators who rely on slowly melting snowpack as a “sixth reservoir” to water their crops over the summer. This also means some irrigators will receive a smaller ration of water, and others will be shut off.

Irrigation supports a $4.5 billion agricultural economy in the Yakima Basin, where the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation manages five reservoirs to deliver water to irrigate 464,000 acres of farmland and to release water in pulses to support salmon.

On Friday, June 7, 2019, Reclamation reported their reservoirs are about 80 percent full and because of the lack of snow, water deliveries are beginning to rely on this storage.

Formal curtailment notices

Junior irrigation districts, Kittitas, Roza and Kennewick, will receive at best 74 percent of their total allotment of water this year, according to Reclamation. And because of this rationing of water, some 217 water rights more junior than these irrigation districts are now shut off by court order.

These users, with priority dates after May 10, 1905, are part of an adjudicated water basin that controls when surface water may be diverted. Now that the Yakima adjudication final decree has been entered, Ecology is tasked with issuing these curtailment orders, which were sent out on Friday, June 7, 2019.

Camp and cabin owners who rely on surface water and who participated in our mitigation program, and domestic water users, will not be curtailed. Those irrigators being curtailed may be able to lease water from other irrigators or water right holders within the Yakima Basin.

Water users with questions may call our Central Regional office water rights customer service line at 509-575-2597.

Other Central Washington water tidbits

The U.S. Geological Survey Water Quality Watch indicates that water temperatures in the Lower Yakima are now exceeding 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 F). Salmon won’t move up into the river when it gets too hot. This is called a “thermal block.”

Water temperatures on the Okanogan below Oroville are also above 22 degrees C. The fisheries biologist for the Colville Tribe says that steelhead eggs die if the river experiences five consecutive days of water temps greater than 20C. He said it’s not unusual for the Okanogan to warm up, but this year it happened earlier than usual.

Ecology continues to work with the Oroville-Tonasket Irrigation District on a project to develop a water bank to address water supply limitations for irrigators in the Okanogan River basin.

Also this week, Ecology is raising the water level on Lake Osoyoos at Oroville to gain 3,000 acre-feet of water to help irrigation later in the season, due to drought conditions there.

State drought declarations

This spring, Gov. Jay Inslee officially declared drought emergencies for 27 watersheds.

By state statute, "drought conditions" are water supply conditions where a geographical area or a significant part of a geographical area is receiving, or is projected to receive, less than 75 percent of normal water supply as the result of natural conditions and the deficiency causes, or is expected to cause, undue hardship to water users within that area.

Drought emergency declarations allow Ecology to expedite response actions such as expediting water right transfers and providing funding to local governments to address hardships caused by drought. Some examples of drought-relief projects that funding might be used for include leasing water rights, implementing water conservation programs, and developing alternative sources of water supplies for communities, farmers, and fish hatcheries.

By Joye Redfield-Wilder, Central Region communications

After 40 years, Acquavella adjudication is coming to close

Court date set to confirm all surface water rights in Yakima River Basin

Canyon view of Yakima River - Photo by Tom Tebb

The upcoming May 9, 2019, ‘water day’ in Yakima County Superior Court is one we’ve been working toward for more than 40 years. Judge F. James Gavin has announced that on that day he will consider the entry of the Final Decree of the Yakima River Basin Adjudication, confirming ALL surface water rights for the Yakima River and its numerous tributaries.

In the world of water in Washington state this is a significant day.

Since 1977 when Ecology v. James Acquavella, et al was filed, water day has been a fixture for thousands of surface water right claimants, lawyers and stakeholders. So has the “monthly notice” of court proceedings. The April 1, 2019, monthly notice mailed to 2,500 claimants and interested parties includes the Court Order announcing the Final Decree: A notice they’ve long been waiting for.

Setting rights for a vast watershed

Cherries are a high-value crop 

The adjudication encompasses a watershed supporting the state’s top agricultural economy irrigated by the Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima Project and five mountain reservoirs. While the case settles old conflicts in the Yakima River Basin, it also should reduce future water disputes, especially among 30 major claimants including cities, irrigation districts, federal entities and the Yakama Nation. And has led to more collaborative water management approaches, to protect all our water needs.

To establish the priority of surface water rights, the court examined thousands of individual water claims along the 31 tributary watersheds in Kittitas, Yakima, and Benton counties and a segment of Klickitat County. Records and documents spanned more than 150 years of history, and considered the treaty rights of the Yakama Nation.

Painting a picture of the 6,150 square-mile.basin -- the mainstem Yakima, Teanaway and Cle Elum rivers and tributary creeks flow from the crest of Snoqualmie Pass. The Naches and Tieton rivers are sourced by tributaries originating just east of Mt. Rainier National Park, joining the Yakima at Selah Gap. Other smaller creeks and tributaries discharge into the Yakima River from Union Gap, through the Lower Yakima Valley all the way to the Columbia River at Richland.

A bit of history, a bit of context for Yakima water management

When the state embarked on judicially settling water rights in 1977, the basin was plagued by water conflicts and the specter of drought. We knew a finite water resource was largely spoken for, and that we needed to clarify the “who, where, when and how much” each water user was legally entitled to, primarily for irrigation, based on the state’s 1917 surface water code — “first in time, first in right.” (See our August 2017 blog about the case winding down).

In the intervening years, the Yakima Basin has experienced seven declared droughts and numerous other low-water years. Surface water deliveries to irrigated farmland can be interrupted or curtailed during shortages, based on the priority date assigned to each water right.

When junior irrigation districts, such as Roza and Kittitas Reclamation, receive only a portion of their water, others on the mainstem can be shut off. Even those with very old, senior water rights along tributaries, such as the Teanaway and Cowiche, may be regulated as they were during the severe drought of 2015.

The Yakama Nation has ancestral water rights, which protect instream flows for fish, and irrigation rights on the Wapato Irrigation Project. The federal government also has obligations to meet streamflows for fish in the watershed. These water needs are taken into account within the basin’s total water supply.

Over the past 42 years, specific legal issues raised by the case have been settled at the state Supreme Court in four separate appeals, establishing important case law precedent.

Looking forward

“The Yakima Adjudication has taught us invaluable lessons,” explained Ecology Director Maia Bellon. “Water is absolutely vital to the Yakima Valley and our entire state. This case provides water users clarity about their rights. And, importantly, it has led to a phenomenal change in how we approach water management.”

While the Superior Court’s issuance of the final decree is monumental, the activities and relationships built in the courtroom across the years have led to a new way to manage water through the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan.

“We’ve found that we’re more effective working as partners at the same table than as adversaries in the courtroom,” said Director Bellon. “Together we’re tackling the challenges of drought and climate change and finding water solutions for our communities, fisheries, agricultural producers – today and for generations to come.”

What’s next after the May 9, 2019 Water Day?

The final schedule of rights will be available for review on Ecology’s website, after the Final Decree is entered in court. Information will be mailed to water right holders on next steps to complete the process for obtaining an adjudicated water right certificate.

Yes, May 9, 2019, will mark a major milestone for Washington and the Yakima River Basin. And yes there’s more to be done to achieve water resiliency and secure water for tomorrow. Let’s build off this event with a commitment to collaborative work and coordinated investments to continue the Yakima Basin’s water resource management success.

By Joye Redfield-Wilder, Ecology Central Regional Communications Manager

Yakima River Basin encompasses 31 tributary watersheds where water rights are now prioritized