Removal of Cowiche Creek diversion dams a boon to fish

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Just off Pioneer Road west of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy sits a link to the Yakima Valley's past and, at the same time, a signpost to the future.

An undated but old Cowiche Creek irrigation diversion dam, believed to have been placed there by the pioneering Splawn family, is a relic of earlier times in the history of irrigation in the Yakima Valley.

Jim Lust, a Yakima County Superior Court judge, whose family has owned much of this land along Summitview Road for a half-century, remembers he and his brother, Mike, now a retired veterinarian, wading into the sometimes fast-moving creek each spring to place 4x12 boards into a metal frame.

The boards raise the level of the creek so the Lusts can draw water to irrigate. It's been that way since the early 1870s, when a water right was obtained for the land the family now owns.

Those days will end this fall, and a new era will begin. A network of pipes will deliver water to nearly 400 acres of land owned by the Lusts and a number of other landowners.

The water will be carried to the land through the distribution system of the Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District, marking the first time water that's not been part of the 104-year-old Yakima Irrigation Project will be delivered through project facilities.

The Lusts couldn't be more pleased.

"We will be anxious to get that dam out," Lust said on a recent day during a break in his judicial duties.

The new system will eliminate the need for pumps, just one benefit of a complicated multi-year effort.

The upgrade will also provide a major boost for fish in Cowiche Creek, an important tributary of the Naches River. Once the old dam is removed by early next year, steelhead trout, coho and spring chinook salmon and resident rainbow trout will have unimpeded access to an additional 25 miles of the creek for spawning and rearing.

"Our family has been sympathetic to fish recovery. That part won't bother us at all," Lust said.

State fisheries officials say young fish will get the most benefit. The old boards made passage impossible for those looking for food and cool water. Plus, the fish were at risk of being sucked into irrigation ditches during the summer.

Removing the old dam and a second diversion two miles upstream is one piece of a puzzle to help restore steelhead, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"It is a good project for a creek like the South Fork Cowiche, where we have documented steelhead spawning and we have video of steelhead spawning in Cowiche Creek on our wildlife refuge, which is above these two diversions," said John Easterbrooks, regional fishery program manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Yakima.

"We want this one to get done," he added.

Getting it done so fish habitat is improved and the water rights of the farmers aren't diminished has been the focus of Mike Tobin, district manager of the North Yakima Conservation District, for almost a decade.

"We had to assure the water-right holders they would not be harmed in any way," he said.

The district provides financial and technical assistance to help farmers conserve natural resources. In addition to helping farmers make better use of water and land, the district also is working on salmon restoration, such as irrigation screens, habitat improvements and removing barriers like the Cowiche Creek dams.

What Tobin has painstakingly pieced together with the assistance of state and federal agencies, 15 individual water-right holders, the Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District and a conservation group marks a first for the Yakima Valley.

"This is the largest and most complex project we have done, but also the most exciting because of the recovery benefits we will be able to achieve," said Tobin, who has been with the district since 1989.

The entire Cowiche Creek project will cost an estimated $798,000 and be funded through state and federal funds and Bonneville Power Administration ratepayer money earmarked for fish enhancement. The Washington Rivers Conservancy, a Wenatchee-based conservation group, obtained $250,000 in BPA funds for Cowiche Creek.

The project received a major boost last week when a local salmon recovery board made Cowiche Creek its top priority for funding this year in the Yakima Valley.

Some agreements between the landowners and the district still need to be completed, and they are expected soon.

"We are committed to make it work. There are a lot of moving parts to this," said Rick Dieker, manager of the 27,000-acre Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District. "We have to make sure we have certain criteria to make it work for our system so it can go forward. It is good for the fish and a good situation for these folks."

The project helps the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Yakima Irrigation Project, meet its objectives to improve fish habitat and passage in the river basin.

Until now, the agency's efforts have been limited to the main-stem Yakima and Naches rivers. The Cowiche Creek project is a chance to help improve fish life in a river tributary, where steelhead spawn and live before migrating to the ocean, said Walt Larrick, who heads a bureau program on habitat improvement and water conservation.

"I think the significant value for the Bureau of Reclamation is in the tributaries that steelhead use to complete their life cycle," he said.

That's certainly a benefit the rivers conservancy is excited about, said director Lisa Pelly.

"People will continue to irrigate. That is something we all care about," she said. "Cowiche Creek is gorgeous country. It is nice coming over the hill and seeing that area in active irrigation."

* Reporter David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.