Floodplains are where rivers spread their wings when they spill seasonally over their banks, creating a mosaic of wetlands and meandering side channels, where all shapes and sizes of fish and wildlife can thrive. Yet, across the West (and the world), floodplains have been diked, bermed, drained and developed, depleting rivers of their most vital and fertile ecosystems.
When it comes to restoring river habitat, especially for salmon and steelhead, floodplain restoration can have an outsized impact. But because floodplains are so often developed, opportunities to recover them are few and far between.
On Washington’s Yakima River, Western Rivers Conservancy has a rare opportunity to advance a large-scale effort to restore more than 650 acres of premier floodplain habitat along four miles of the river—all by conserving a small but pivotal 39-acre tract of land in Kittitas County called Four Seasons Ranch.
Four Seasons Ranch lies within a stretch of the Yakima called the Ringer Restoration Reach. Here, Kittitas County has been working with landowners for nearly a decade to purchase parcels along the river with the goal of restoring the entire reach to its natural floodplain. The ranch is the last privately held piece of land within this five mile stretch and, as such, faces increasing flood risk, constrains floodplain restoration opportunities and hampers public access to adjacent BLM lands. So, when Four Seasons Ranch went up for sale in 2022, Western Rivers Conservancy moved quickly to put the last piece of this major restoration puzzle into place.
This month, WRC signed an agreement to purchase Four Seasons Ranch with the goal of transferring it to the county in late 2023. When that happens, restoration of the Ringer Reach can move forward in earnest. Berms and levees will be gradually removed, or allowed to continue their decay, side channels will be restored, cottonwood trees will be returned to the landscape, and this stretch of the Yakima will once again be free to meander and shift across its natural floodplain.
For the Yakima’s salmon and steelhead, this is a major step in the right direction. Restoring side channels and reconnecting the river to its floodplain will open critical spawning and rearing habitat that has been cut off by roads, levees and channel-filling for decades. This stretch of the Yakima River is also particularly important for its groundwater upwelling, which provides stable year-round water temperatures and thermal refugia for fish during both summer and winter extremes.
For all of these reasons, the Ringer Restoration Reach has been a priority in the Yakima Basin Steelhead Recovery Plan, and our efforts at Four Seasons Ranch are supported by the Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board. Both Kittitas County and the BLM have wanted to see Four Seasons Ranch in county hands for years.
In all, conservation of Four Seasons Ranch will have a meaningful long-term impact on the Yakima and its fish. The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board will fund the purchase of the ranch, and our efforts will help advance key objectives in the broader Yakima Basin Steelhead Recovery Plan—all a testament to the importance of this property.
In addition to the benefits for fish and wildlife, conservation of Four Season’s Ranch will boost Kittitas County’s efforts to expand open space and trail access along this reach of the river. That makes this project a win not just for fish and wildlife but for people and the communities of the Yakima River, too.
