YAKIMA, Wash.- A $12 million project to restore the ecosystem around the Yakima River is now underway. The Gap-to-Gap restoration project broke ground on November 14 with Yakima County and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) officials in attendance.
“Today, as we stand upon floodplain that will soon be reconnected to the Yakima River, we are celebrating the start of the construction of this project,” said Lieutenant Colonel Cherise Lao, the Deputy Commander of the Seattle District of USACE. “We are authorized to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems and wetland habitats to improve the quality of the environment.
The improvements to the ecosystem have been in the works for a while now. Severe flooding from the Yakima River previously led to levees being installed but disturbed endangered species including steelhead and bull trout.
“A lot of folks will remember the 1996 flooding event that happened and the devastating affect that it had on our city of Union Gap and city of Yakima,” says Yakima County Commissioner, Kyle Curtis. “This project will help ensure that that’s mitigated moving forward.”
According to the Program Manager, Stephen Osgood, the project will start by creating side channels around Sportsman Island. Newlands Ponds’ floodplains will also be graded, just south of State Route 24.
The second phase of the project will include removing the KOA levee and realigning parts of the Blue Slough before installing a new setback levee in phase three.
The project will encompass 320 acres around Sportsman Island, the Blue Slough and Yakima Diking District 1.
Phase 1 is expected to wrap up sometime in 2024, and the entirety of the project should be complete within three years.
