Welcome to Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 29
On December 14, 2005, Western WRIA 29 Planning Unit approved the
Western WRIA 29 Watershed Management Plan
All documents are available for review or purchase through Skamania County Planning & Community Development located at 170 Vancouver Avenue, Stevenson, Washington
What is Watershed Planning?
In 1998 the Washington State Legislature passed the Watershed Planning Act into law (RCW 90-82). The purpose of the legislation was to “develop a more thorough and cooperative method of determining what the current water resource situation is in each water resource inventory area of the state and to provide local citizens with the maximum possible input concerning their goals and objectives for water resource management and development.” The Washington State Department of Ecology was given the task of implementing and managing the resulting watershed planning program by the legislature.
What is WRIA 29?
Washington State is divided into 62 Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs). Each WRIA has the option to develop its own local watershed plan. WRIA 29 is located in south-central Washington and includes parts of Skamania County, Klickitat, and Yakima Counties. Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams mark the northwest and northeast corners, respectively of the WRIA, and the Columbia River forms its southern boundary. From the west to east, the area is divided into five main subbasins: Rock Creek just west of Stevenson, Wind River, Little White Salmon River, White Salmon River, and Jewett, Catherine and Major Creeks. All tributaries to the Columbia River not included in one of the five subbasins listed above are combined into a 6th subbasin for planning purposes.
As of June 8th 2005 WRIA 29 has been further divided. Watershed planning for the White Salmon River and Jewett, Catherine and Major Creeks sub-basins has been terminated due to unresolvable differences of opinion among Planning Unit members. Planning for Western WRIA 29, the Rock Creek, Wind River, Little White Salmon River and Tributaries to the Columbia West of the White Salmon River sub-basins, is continuing with a new Planning Unit. This group’s work will use the WRIA-wide materials as a base to complete a Western WRIA 29 Watershed Plan.
There are three phases of watershed planning. During Phase 1 of watershed planning, the organization phase, the Initiating Governments (Skamania County, Klickitat County, Skamania County PUD, City of White Salmon, Yakama Nation) designated Skamania County as the Lead Agency, identified Planning Unit interest groups; and decided to address water quantity, water quality, habitat, and instream flow. Later, however, the Initiating Governments decided to focus on water quantity and quality prior to addressing habitat or instream flow. These governments also decided not to have the Planning Unit make any recommendations to Ecology on minimum instream flow rules. The first Planning Unit meeting was held on May 9, 2000.
During Phase 2, the assessment phase, the Planning Unit hired Envirovision Corporation, of Olympia, Washington, to conduct a survey of existing water quantity and quality information prepare a report, identify any data gaps, and recommend further studies needed to make water resource decisions. This Level I Water Quantity and Quality Technical Assessment was completed in 2003. Level 1 Assessments on habitat and instream flow were completed in 2003 by two committees composed of Planning Unit members and local and agency experts in each respective field.
Envirovision Corporation was also hired in mid 2004 to fill in water quantity and quality data gaps by completing Level 2 Assessment work on five topics including a Surface Water Monitoring Strategy, Groundwater Monitoring Strategy, Aquifer Study of the Lower Wind River Subbasin, Water Rights and Use Analysis of the White Salmon River Subbasin, and a literature review of Irrigation Conservation measures.
Phase 3 known as the planning phase, began in WRIA 29 in mid 2004. The Planning Unit hired Sound Resolutions, Inc. to facilitate this portion of the planning process. Cascadia Consultants, Inc. was hired to write the watershed plan. A WRIA-wide watershed plan was drafted and ready for approval to meet the 4-year deadline set out in the Watershed Planning Act for plan approval by the Planning Unit. However, the Planning Unit, consisting of 27 interest groups, was unable to reach consensus on the plan, or to achieve an 80% majority vote to approve the plan. Therefore, on June 8, 2005 the group unanimously agreed to terminate WRIA-Wide planning but to allow planning in the western portion of the WRIA to continue.
A new Planning Unit consisting of 15 interest groups was formed in September of 2005. Using one of the WRIA-Wide draft plans as a base, this group intends to approve a watershed plan by December 2005.
The Planning Unit approved watershed plan will be sent to the Skamania County Board of Commissioners to conduct a hearing on the plan. The Commissioners may adopt the plan or send it back to the Planning Unit with instructions for revision. Once adopted by the County, plan implementation, Phase IV, may commence. The legislature has set aside $100,000 for the first two years of implementation per WRIA and $80,000 per WRIA, for the following two years.
The dedication of the Planning Unit members to creation of a useful plan for WRIA 29’s water resources is extraordinary. The Western WRIA 29 Planning Unit expects to have a watershed plan to the County Commissioners for their review by December 2005. Meanwhile, please take a few minutes to look over the work that has been accomplished so far.
If you have any questions about WRIA 29 contact Skamania County Planning & Community Development Office located at 170 Vancouver Avenue, Stevenson, Washington.