State Entities Work Together to Tackle Cle Elum Pool Raise Project to Provide Instream Flows for Fish

The Bureau of Reclamation and the Washington Department of Ecology, along with other state partners, are raising Cle Elum reservoir by three feet to add an additional 14,600 acre-feet of water. This water will be managed for instream flows for salmon and steelhead.

"It's very important that we have the flexibility the Cle Elum pool raise provides us," said Wendy Christensen, YRBWEP program manager at Bureau of Reclamation.

The water can be used by releasing it at strategic times of the year to provide benefit to salmon and steelhead during their out migration to the sea.

"The most limiting factor to salmon and steelhead production in the Yakima Basin is poor out migration conditions in the spring," said Perry Harvester, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Habitat program manager.

According to Christensen, the Yakima Basin relies on snow pack and lately it has been less snow and more rain. This makes the additional storage capability in the basin important.

This project is a component of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a long term eco system restoration project.