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KITTITAS COUNTY <br />DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS <br />PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />STUDY SESSION DATE: October 24, 2022 <br />TOPIC: Kittitas Conservation Trust Request for Letter <br />of Support <br />ACTION REQUESTED: Direction to Staff <br />LEAD STAFF: <br />Arden Thomas <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />Provide Requested Letter of Support <br />BRIEFING SUMMARY: <br />• Kittitas Conservation Trust is a local non-profit organization working to preserve <br />and restore rivers in the Upper Yakima River Basin. <br />• Kittitas Conservation Trust has been working to determine the causes of Gold <br />Creek dewatering and design and implement a restoration project to address these <br />causes. <br />• Kittitas Conservation Trust is applying for grant funding from U.S Fish and <br />Wildlife Service and has requested a Letter of Support from Kittitas County. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />Gold Creek is a river that flows into Keechelus Reservoir in the Snoqualmie Pass area. <br />This river seasonally dewaters, which adversely impacts fish and wildlife, including bull <br />trout, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Kittitas <br />Conservation Trust is a local non-profit organization working to preserve and restore <br />rivers in the Upper Yakima River Basin. This organization has identified that stream <br />dewatering is worsened by historic gravel pits in the area and stream degradation <br />associated with past logging practices. Kittitas Conservation Trust is requesting funding <br />to implement the project and has requested a letter of support from Kittitas County. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />There are a number of private landowners in the area with cabins along Gold Creek that <br />are at risk due to Gold Creek channel migration. Kittitas Conservation Trust has been <br />working with these landowners and the proposed restoration will provide some level of <br />protection relative to current conditions. Associated with observed dewatering, the <br />Yakama Nation has communicated to the State Departments of Ecology and Health that <br />stream dewatering and expansion of water systems in the area based on junior rights, <br />threatens the Yakama Nation's Treaty -reserved rights, including their time immemorial <br />Page 1 of 4 <br />PUBLIC WORKS BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />