Watershed Planning > Watershed Planning
Updates by WRIA > Yakima River Basin
Yakima River Basin Watershed Management Planning - Lower/Upper Yakima & Naches (WRIA 37/38/39)
Grants awarded through June 2008
$1,960,300
Projected grants July 2008 - June 2009
$114,300 (WRIAs 37/38 and jurisdictional areas of Yakima County only in WRIA 39.)
Background
On December 18, 2002, the Yakima Basin Plan became the first in the State to
be approved by a planning unit and forwarded for additional public consideration
and adoption by the counties.
Three years after planning group approval, the Yakima, Benton, and Klickitat boards of commissioners approved the Yakima Basin Watershed Management Plan for the Lower Yakima and Naches watersheds. Kittitas County opted out of final plan adoption for the Upper Yakima basin; they are not eligible for implementation grants.
The lead agency for the Lower Yakima and Naches watersheds is the Yakima Basin Water Resources Agency. They received Phase 4 funding in September 2006 and the planning group completed the detailed implementation plan in July 2007.
The watershed plan contains no obligations for county or state agencies.
Instream flow status
No instream flows are set in rule; however, target flows (enacted by Congress) and instream flow tribal treaty rights (affirmed by the Yakima Superior Court) are in place in the Yakima Basin. Both target and instream flows are managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Ecology anticipates no other instream flow activities at this time.
Links, Studies, Data
