Wahkiacus Hatchery and Acclimation Facility (WHAF)

Background:

To replace the Champion Mill Acclimation Site (RM 14.1) damaged during the 1996 floods, Mitchell Act Flood Restoration funds were used to conduct feasibility studies and develop engineering designs for the Wahkiacus Hatchery and Acclimation Facility (WHAF). After testing remote acclimation sites, it was determined that a concerted effort to fully develop a central facility would more effectively meet the YNFP's overall coho program goal for the Klickitat Basin. The WHAF was selected based on its location in the basin, low bank river frontage, and availability of both river and groundwater sources.

The WHAF is located on the Klickitat River (RM 17.0) at a mean elevation of 515 feet. The facility is designed to acclimate up to 1,000,000 coho pre-smolts and rear and release up to 2,000,000 fall Chinook. Coho releases are planned for the end of April at a size of 15 fish per pound. Fall Chinook will be 80 per pound at release in mid-June. The 5.5 acre property was purchased using a FY2000 PCSRF grant to develop both the WHAF and the Yakama Nation regional fisheries office.

The WHAF is identified as a critical facility for the Yakama Nation to meet the goals and objectives within the Klickitat Subbasin Anadromous Fishery Master Plan (NPCC 2004). By shifting production of coho and fall Chinook production to WHAF, several goals will be met.

• Development of WHAF allows the co-managed Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) to free water and space at the Klickitat Hatchery (RM 42.3) to improve rearing conditions (lower densities) to meet YKFP supplementation guidelines for spring Chinook and develop the same for steelhead.
• In addition, an important benefit of transferring production to WHAF is the geographic shift of 26.5 miles (RM 43.5 - RM 17.0) downstream. This critical 26.5 miles then becomes available for natural spawning and rearing for the endemic stocks of spring Chinook and ESA- threatened steelhead. These 26.5 miles encompasses 7 reaches within the Ecosystem, Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model, which provide the primary area for mainstem steelhead spawning, and the highest quality of juvenile rearing habitat in the Klickitat Subbasin. Shifting coho and fall Chinook production downstream to the WHAF minimizes negative interactions between hatchery and endemic stocks, yet maintains these vitally important harvest opportunities for coho and fall Chinook.

Development of the WHAF was a several-pronged approach. Project staff developed Wahkiacus Hatchery and Acclimation Facility Conceptual Design Report which describes the objective of this facility at its current 70% design stage. Simultaneously, project staff developed three sources of water to ensure secure operation, and conducted a bioassay on the artesian source.

The following summarizes the three secured water sources:

1. A non-consumptive Klickitat River surface water right of 20 cfs was secured though WA. State Dept. of Ecology (S4-34554)
2. Evaluation of quantity and quality of an existing 150-foot domestic well identified a sustained 680 gpm available for limited emergency use
3. Evaluation of two shallow wells constructed on-site to provide a "signature" for WHAF water, ensuring homing back to the facility through key tribal and non-tribal fisheries

to YKFP Klickitat Facilities page