SO Many Fish! If you've been following our Gold Creek Valley Restoration Project, you may have found yourself wondering about Gold Creek Pond. Gold Creek Pond didn't start off as a pond at all. Before the mid 1900's, this area was a forested wetland, but as I-90 was constructed,
Decades of resource extraction from the Gold Creek Valley have left it in a severely degraded state. How Did We Get Here? Aerial imagery from 1942 shows Gold Creek Valley in a mostly intact state, but by 1954, clear-cut logging had occurred along the banks of much of Gold Creek. The removal of
Gold Creek once was home to a thriving population of bull trout and salmon. However, today salmon no longer live here and bull trout numbers are rapidly dwindling. The past 5 years we and our partners have collected data in Gold Creek Valley to understand the causes of bull trout decline and what actions
We're sure you are familiar with flying drones, but have you heard of a floating drone? As part of the Gold Creek Restoration Project we used a boat drone to gather the floor topography (bathymetry) of Gold Creek Pond. Why do we need to know that? We will be using data such as floor depth
We spent some days in October in the field with Inter-Fluve to collect information on the upper Kachess River. Our staff conducted survey work, gathered GPS points, took flow measurements, conducted gravel counts and collected stream bed samples. We also gathered LiDAR data that will be used in conjunction with the data collected on
Through the end of September, we will be working on a fish habitat project. The project will replace two culverts located in Cougar Gulch near Liberty, WA. This relatively small project will benefit fish by removing culverts that are too small for the stream at higher flows. Furthermore, the project will ensure the longevity of
By the time they are adults, bull trout can measure over 2 feet in length and weight over 20 pounds. Their large size lends itself to them being the apex predator in lake and river ecosystems. However, as young fish they are an important part of the food chain as prey. Bull trout begin their
Kittitas Conservation Trust (KCT) is working hard to protect bull trout! They are important for maintaining the unique ecosystem of the upper Yakima River basin and are a primary indicator of climate change impacts – a canary in the coal mine. Bull trout are currently listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Location
Way long ago, the Yakima River flowed unobstructed from the high mountains of the Cascades to the hot arid landscape of the Columbia River. Wide swaths on both sides of the Yakima were covered with cottonwood, quaking aspens, chokecherry and currents. The rivers and streams became swollen in the spring as the snow melted
