Finding water solutions for families, fish, and farms
A 30-year effort in the Walla Walla watershed
Together, we’re working to answer the decades-long challenge of meeting the basin's growing water needs for today, tomorrow, and beyond. A partnership between the states of Oregon and Washington, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and community members on both sides of the state border are working to identify and achieve water solutions.
WATERSHED QUICK FACTS
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The name “Walla Walla” originates from the Sahaptin language spoken by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla Tribes, whose homeland includes the basin. The name means “place of many small streams.” This refers to the vast spring and distributary network that once characterized the basin’s waterways as they left the Blue Mountains and spread out across the alluvial sediments deposited in the Valley by the Missoula Floods.
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The watershed covers an area of approximately 1,760 square miles in southeastern Washington state and northeastern Oregon.
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Roughly 63,440 live within the boundaries of the Walla Walla watershed.
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Historical accounts indicate that several species utilized the basin but are now extinct. Fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and chum salmon (O. keta) once used the lower Walla Walla River for spawning, and coho salmon (O. kisutch) were present at some level. Spring Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) historically spawned in the upper reaches of the watershed, but the last significant run was observed in 1925. The species is considered extirpated today, but reintroduction efforts are underway. Summer steelhead and bull trout still persist, but both are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
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Walla Walla’s economy has a diverse composition, with agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and government (educational) services together providing over 71% of total employment. Agriculture is the fourth-largest industry in the area by employment and is growing by about 0.9% annually. Tourism continues to drive growth in the area, particularly as related to the wine industry, and the basin is currently home to nearly 200 wineries (https://esd.wa.gov/labormarketinfo/county-profiles/walla-walla).
The Walla Walla Basin Advisory Committee (WWBAC) meets from 1-4 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
The public is encouraged to attend meetings and participate by providing comments.
The Walla Walla Basin Advisory Committee (WWBAC) provides policy and project development advice to implement the Walla Walla Water 2050 Strategic Plan, an integrated water resource management approach to improve streamflows and water supplies in the Walla Walla watershed. The WWBAC is led by the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, with participation by local governments and agriculture and environmental representatives.
3 Walla at diversion (photo by Dept. of Eco.)
Basin Volunteer Event (photo by WWBWC CHE)
Irrigated grapes (photo by Dept. of Eco.)
Updates and News in the Basin
Chinook Updates:
There have been 910 spring Chinook counted at Nursery Bridge Dam, the second highest number in the 25 years of the reintroduction efforts on the Walla Walla River.
There were an estimated 130 spring Chinook that escaped into the Mill Creek drainage.
For the first time since the spring Chinook reintroduction started, enough fish return to use only Walla Walla River fish to create a localized broodstock.
Adult salmon migrating up Mill Creek this year took an average of 2 days to travel from Gose Street to Bennington Dam, a distance of just 6 miles. Before the completion of various fish passage improvements in the Mill Creek channel, salmon took an average of 14 days to swim the same 6-mile distance. The Basin Advisory Committee (BAC) funded the monitoring devices used to assess fish passage in Mill Creek. The speed of the migration is imperative to their survival. The fish are migrating out of the downstream, warming waters and into the upstream, cool mountain streams.
In most years before these enhancements, salmon were unable to swim upstream in the Mill Creek channel at all.
The BAC has supported regional organizations, including the Tri-State Steelheaders, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others, which have significantly improved conditions for salmon migrating up Mill Creek.