Flip Flop (Yakima River)

[Dave G]

Can anyone explain how the increased or decreased Yakima River flows create Flip flop, and exactly what it is/does?

 

[G_Smolt]

Annual Yakima River 'flip flop' for fish spawning underway

It's been 45 years since U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush made a decision that changed how the Bureau of Reclamation operates the flows of the Yakima River Basin.

www.yakimaherald.com

 

[Dave G]

Unfortunately the article is behind a pay wall.

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought that flip flop was a phenomenon caused by the flow changes... not the flow changes themselves.

 

[Bruce Baker]

Unfortunately the article is behind a pay wall.

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought that flip flop was a phenomenon caused by the flow changes... not the flow changes themselves.

I had no problem reading the article. Maybe clear your cache/cookies for that website? Anyway, I sent you a DM.

 

[Dave G]

Got it. Thx!

 

[Salmo_g]

I hit the paywall too.

Flip flop is the changes. Around the first of September, the Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) switches the high flow releases from the Yakima River to the Tieton River. The reason is that spring Chinook salmon would spawn in the Yakima River while higher irrigation flows were still being released. Then after spawning was finished, BoR would reduce the Yakima River flow releases to low winter flow levels. This caused the Chinook redds to be exposed to freezing weather which killed the eggs that were in the gravel. Flip flop means the Chinook spawn in lower flows that simulate natural pre-project flows and then also the eggs incubate in low winter flows. So the eggs remain covered with water and survive.

What I have never heard is how flip flop impacts Chinook spawning in the Naches, Little Naches, Bumping, and American Rivers. It appears to me that the problem of Chinook redd desiccation and freezing is moved from the Yakima River to those other tributaries.

 

[flybill]

I thought it had more to do with irrigation for farming in the Yakima Valley, raising the water level in the summers. Or maybe this is more referring to a natural occurrence.. I'll check out the article! Cheers!

 

[Matt B]

I hit the paywall too.

Flip flop is the changes. Around the first of September, the Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) switches the high flow releases from the Yakima River to the Tieton River. The reason is that spring Chinook salmon would spawn in the Yakima River while higher irrigation flows were still being released. Then after spawning was finished, BoR would reduce the Yakima River flow releases to low winter flow levels. This caused the Chinook redds to be exposed to freezing weather which killed the eggs that were in the gravel. Flip flop means the Chinook spawn in lower flows that simulate natural pre-project flows and then also the eggs incubate in low winter flows. So the eggs remain covered with water and survive.

What I have never heard is how flip flop impacts Chinook spawning in the Naches, Little Naches, Bumping, and American Rivers. It appears to me that the problem of Chinook redd desiccation and freezing is moved from the Yakima River to those other tributaries.

The article claims that when Judge Quackenbush made the ruling, Chinook were declared extinct on that side of the basin. It also says that steelhead in those subbasins basically got the shaft, and that they bear the brunt of impacts from the altered hydrologic agreement.

 

[Dave G]

Here's what I know about smolt 'pulses'.

Every time I had planned to float, some guy in a small office became aware of my intentions and scheduled a flow release. For a while, it never failed!