Construction crews could start removing a salmon-blocking causeway as early as December. The Bateman Island causeway bottlenecks water at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers.
The controversial man-made land bridge connects the shore to an island in the Tri-Cities.
Now, federal, state and tribal partners have given $1.2 million to a construction company to start taking down the 550-foot causeway.
“The island causeway blocks the river's course, which negatively impacts critical habitat for culturally significant fish,” said Lt. Col. Kathryn Werback, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in a statement.
Biologists have said the causeway blocks water that pours out of the Yakima River and into the Columbia.
“One of the bigger concerns is rising water temperatures and degrading water quality within the Yakima Delta area because not only does that affect wildlife, it affects humans,” said Dylan Peters, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
That slow, stagnant water makes the perfect place for predators — like birds and fish — to hang out and take a bite out of migrating salmon. It also leads to ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed and for toxic algal blooms and stargrass to grow.
Removing the causeway is expected to restore this part of the river’s ecosystem, Werback said.
In 2024, the warm, stagnant waters in the Yakima Delta killed at least 75 sockeye salmon.
Fish managers said this project could have an outsized benefit to salmon restoration throughout the Yakima River Basin.
“It’s about the spirit of where our people, our history and our way of life have always been tied to the river, the fish, and our connection to the Coast,” said Phil Rigdon, the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources superintendent, in a statement.
The man-made island is a well-known spot for anglers and birders in the region. While people won’t be able to walk across, it will still be accessible by boat.
Managers are unsure how the causeway came to be.
“We have suspicion that it was built by the Bateman family that farmed out there many years ago. It was built between 1939 and 1940, prior to any environmental review or legal requirements,” Mike Livingston, the south central regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in an earlier interview with NWPB.
The city of Richland handed over its management of the island to the U.S. Army Corps in an effort to make the island safer without the easy access the causeway provides.
Concerns had been raised about sediment flowing downriver, but a recent study by the Army Corps found sediment releases would be negligible.
The construction timeframe is limited to when salmon don’t migrate through the area.
