It’s been a couple of months since construction crews in the Tri-Cities removed an earthen land bridge that blocked water at the mouth of the Yakima River. Now, people are celebrating the river’s free flow through its delta.
Since at least the 1940s, an earthen causeway connected the Richland shoreline to Bateman Island. It also created poor conditions for migrating salmon. The stagnant water behind the causeway would get too hot, leading to fish die-offs, good breeding habitats for mosquitoes and perfect hangouts for other fish and birds that would eat salmon.
Now, there’s no causeway in sight.
The Yakima River flows freely through its delta and into the Columbia River. This season, biologists expect migrating salmon to fare better here.
“We did it,” said Mike Livingston, to applause at the celebration on Friday. Livingston is with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
At least 100 people gathered along the riverbank to celebrate that progress. The ceremony opened with a blessing, which Yakama Nation elders translated into English. According to the blessing, people are stewards of the land; travelers instead of owners.
During remarks at the ceremony, Kyle Shields, with the Yakama Nation, said the water remembers its path.
“It wants to go down this channel, it knows that that's where it's supposed to go. And those fish know as well that this is where they want to go,” he said.
However, Shields said, this one success won’t solve all the problems salmon face. Habitat improvement work is still needed throughout the Columbia River system, he said.
“It's just one small step, and many more steps that need to be taken to restore these systems to what they need to be,” Shields said.
All that work is happening for future generations, said Kat Brigham, who chairs the board of trustees for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
This site was equally important to the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes, speakers said. Natural resources know no boundaries, Brigham said.
“ This project is a story we should be very proud of because it brought us together. It is bringing our salmon back. It's improving the water quality, it's improving the habitat, and it's improved the relationship that got us there,” she said.
In the end, Brigham said, the persistence to improve habitat is a fight to help future generations.
