ASCE Volunteering - Yakima Floodplain Restoration 

Volunteer with the City of Yakima to plant vegetation in the Yakima Flood Plain

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This is a great opportunity to work with the City and improve the community.  We would like to provide as many volunteers as we can!  Here is a summary of the project from Ryan Anderson with the City:

"I want to take the opportunity to update you all on our
floodplain restoration and outfall re-route project here at the City of Yakima
Floodplain Restoration Site.    Attached are powerpoint slides
with photos from some of the year’s activities and accomplishments.  It
also includes a grade plan for the pond restoration, trail re-route and
noise/visual barrier berm to shield the project site/trail from freeway noise
and sites. 

Also, I’m hoping for your continued support to get native
vegetation re-established at the site.

We are  appreciative of the support we’ve received from
the Salmon Recovery Funding Board and some early implementation actions  support
from the Yakima Fly Fishers Association (YFFA) and Dept. of F and
W.   We’ve raised about $490,000 that will help us get started
restoring the site to functioning floodplain habitat.  We still need to
fill in some funding gaps, so we are applying for a grant from the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account (ALEA)
program.  

If awarded, the grant will be used to purchase native
riparian/floodplain plants and upland plants.  The plants will enhance the
property surrounding our Salmon Recovery Funding Board project that is
restoring Billy’s Pond.   Also, the native vegetation will be a boon
to the fish and wildlife populations already on site.  I’m hoping you can
provide a letter or e-mail from your organization that supports our application
and indicates how many volunteer hours could be contributed to the
project.  We will need a lot of help planting both Billy’s Pond and the
surrounding area with native vegetation.  This will start next fall, the
spring of 2014 and the fall of 2014.  There will be lots of opportunities
to be involved. 

Over the spring, summer and fall we snorkeled the side
channel on the project site, electro surveyed the outlet of the pond, removed
“rough” fish, primarily carp from the pond and spent a lot of time out in the
floodplain surveying, monitoring groundwater, refining our design ideas and
showing off our project site.  We found a few steelhead and coho salmon
juveniles in the side channel habitats near the site, but not nearly as many as
we expect to find after the project is complete.  We also observed lots of
different bird species including pelicans, hawks, kestrels, herons, red-winged
black birds, Canadian geese, and wood ducks, just to name a few.  The pond
is also home to beavers and river otters.  With an increase in diversity
of riverine and terrestrial habitat and vegetation we expect the biological
diversity of the area to increase dramatically. 

Also of interest, the Yakima Valley Sports Commission and
the City of Yakima has declared the area north and west of the project site as
“Pirates Landing” home to the Pirate Plunder Adventure Race.  (www.pirateplunderrace.com). 
The sports commission did an incredible job turning some of our old fields into
an adventure race course.  The next race is next fall and we can’t wait to
see what the pirates have in mind for the site.

Myself, and the City of Yakima, are grateful for all that
your organizations do for our community already.  If you can, please
provide a short letter of support for our ALEA grant application.  It
would also help the project’s success if we could get a commitment of volunteer
hours from your organization to help with the re-vegetation work.  This is
a great opportunity to connect to one of the Yakima River Basin’s keystone
salmon recovery projects. "

Ryan Anderson

Utility Engineer

City of Yakima Wastewater Division

 

Planting Area

Plant plan