OKANOGAN COUNTY, Washington
— Yesterday, Western Rivers Conservancy and the Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation permanently conserved the 2,524-acre Antoine Valley Ranch,
returning ancestral lands to the Colville Tribes and delivering desperately
needed water to Antoine Creek and its imperiled run of Okanogan River steelhead.
Antoine Valley Ranch spans 2.5 miles of Antoine Creek, a
critical spawning stream for threatened summer steelhead that flows through the
ancestral homelands of the Colville Tribes. For decades, this Columbia River
tributary has run too low and warm for steelhead to survive and spawn.
“The repatriation
of these lands to the Colville Tribes represents a great step forward for the
original stewards of this part of the Okanogan River valley while making
significant gains for an irreplaceable run of steelhead that depend on Antoine
Creek for survival,” said Jarred-Michael
Erickson, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
In an effort to revive this critical stream, WRC purchased
the ranch in 2020 and transferred half of it to the Colville that year with
funding from the Washington Department of Ecology’s Streamflow Restoration
Program. WRC held the second half of the property while working to secure
additional funding from the Streamflow Restoration Program to permanently
protect the remainder of the ranch.
Yesterday, WRC and the Colville Tribes successfully transferred
the second half of the ranch into Colville ownership. WRC conveyed the ranch’s water
rights to the Department of Ecology to be managed in partnership with the
Colville Tribes for the benefit of Antoine Creek. Trout Unlimited assisted with
dedicating the ranch’s water rights in-stream.
“We are very proud of what we were able to accomplish for
Washington’s fish and wildlife, for streamflow on Antoine Creek, and for the
people of the Okanogan River valley, all by working in partnership with the
Colville Tribes and Western Rivers Conservancy,” said Vanessa Brinkhuis, the
Washington Department of Ecology Streamflow Restoration Grant Unit Supervisor.
Yesterday’s conveyance includes Fanchers Dam, Washington’s second
largest earthen dam and the key to reviving Antoine Creek. The dam sits on a
separate upstream parcel, above natural barriers to steelhead. Because it does
not impede steelhead migration, it will be left in place so tribal fishery
managers can use it to strategically pulse cold flows downstream when fish need
water the most.
The strategy will provide flow increases of up to 90 percent
in Antoine Creek, calibrated to match seasonal needs of the steelhead that
spawn in the stream. Importantly, the flow improvements in Antoine Creek will
continue downstream into the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers.
“Trout Unlimited is honored to be able to bring our
expertise in returning water in-stream in Washington to support the efforts of
the Colville Tribes and Western Rivers Conservancy to restore steelhead to
Antoine Creek and the Okanogan River,” said Theo Burgoon, Trout Unlimited’s Eastern
Washington Director.
In the coming years, the Colville Tribes also plan to
conduct extensive in-stream, riparian and upland habitat restoration,
benefitting the full range of species found on the ranch.
Antoine Valley Ranch lies within the traditional territories
of the Colville Tribes, who have inhabited this area for millennia. It was part of the original
Colville Reservation but was ceded to the United States when the reservation
was reduced in size by Congress in 1872. The Colville Tribes have sought to
acquire the ranch for over a decade, making this property an especially
important acquisition.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with the Colville Tribes
on this innovative project,” said Nelson Mathews, Vice President of Western
Rivers Conservancy. “Using a dam designed to take water out of the creek as a
tool for putting water back into it is unconventional, but the benefits for
Okanogan steelhead will be game-changing. The project confirms our belief that
land acquisition and great partnerships with Tribal Nations like the Colville can
make a profoundly positive, permanent difference for fish and wildlife.”
Conservation of Antoine Valley Ranch was made possible by
the Washington Department of Ecology’s Streamflow Restoration Grant Program,
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation,
James M. Lea Foundation, Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation and individual
donors. WRC’s efforts at Antoine Creek have also received pivotal support from
Trout Unlimited.
