This contract for Umabirch Planning, Design, Engineering and Cultural Resource Monitoring is part of a larger suite of implementation actions being taken on the Umabirch property funded under CR-368092 Umatilla Fish Habitat base expense contract and the implementation Capital contract CR-368410.  These floodplain restoration actions are in conjunction with the acquisition of a 985-acre conservation easement that will, among other things, retire water rights, resulting in increased instream flow, fish passage improvements and large-scale floodplain restoration for anadromous fish benefits, including ESA-listed steelhead.

CTUIR Fisheries Department initiated the Umatilla Anadromous Fish Habitat Project (the Umatilla Project) in 1987 to protect, enhance, and restore functional floodplain, channel, and watershed processes to provide sustainable and healthy habitat for First Foods species. As part of the Northwest Power Conservation Council’s (NPCC) Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, this project is one of BPA’s actions to provide off-site mitigation for impacts to salmon and steelhead populations and wildlife habitat caused by the construction and operation of FCRPS dams. The Umatilla Project (BPA project 1987-100-01) specifically addresses habitat improvement gaps for the Middle Columbia population of the Umatilla Basin steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Distinct Population Segment (DPS) identified in the 2020 FCRPS BiOp including lost fishery resources that are of cultural significance of the CTUIR.  Additional species include ESA-listed Threatened bull trout, Mid-Columbia Spring and Fall Chinook salmon, re-introduced coho salmon, Pacific lamprey, and other native fishes.  Specific life stages addressed for these fishes include adult holding, spawning, juvenile rearing including over-wintering and migration.

The Project utilizes a First Foods-based strategy for aquatic ecosystem restoration organized around the Umatilla River and Upland Visions’ functional Touchstones: water quality and quantity, geomorphology, connectivity, riparian vegetation, and aquatic biota. These Touchstones allow for a clear and direct connection between traditional and contemporary methods, as well as a linkage to primary limiting factors, basin and subbasin plans, and ESA species recovery plans and watershed assessments. This also aligns with a holistic, processed-based methodology for enhancing and beginning the process to restore watershed processes to benefit treaty resources.

The Umatilla Anadromous Fish Habitat Program (UAFHP) prioritizes the implementation of restoration actions following the principles of process-based restoration (Roni et al. 2002; Beechie et al 2008; Beechie et al. 2010). This framework includes addressing the fundamental ecological processes responsible for creating and maintaining high functioning habitat: protection, conservation, reconnection, and restoration.  Umatilla watershed limiting factors include in-channel characteristics (geomorphology and habitat complexity), passage, riparian/floodplain connectivity, sediment and water temperature (2008 Fish Accords).

This contract is directly linked to other contract funding under Project #1987-100-01: Umatilla Watershed - Anadromous Fish Habitat (CTUIR), namely CTUIR's annual contract that supports staff capacity, project management and contract administration throughout CTUIR's area.  This contract parallels the capital contract (CR-368410 - Capital Implementation of Umabirch) and provides for final design, engineering, completion of environmental compliance, and construction observation at Umabirch.  

The proposed Project work in CY 2024 includes:

Design and permitting for the Umabirch Project Areas 2 and 3 and the Pendleton 2A Levee setback.  It also includes engineering, construction support and cultural resources monitoring.

Further information can be found in:
-Umatilla/Willow Subbasin Plan (NPCC 2004)
-CTUIR TMDL for Temperature and Turbidity (CTUIR 2004)
-The Umatilla River Vision (CTUIR 2008)
-Umatilla Subbasin 2050 Water Management Plan (Umatilla County 2008)
-Umatilla River Water Rights Assessment (CTUIR 2010)
-Birch Creek Watershed Action Plan (CTUIR 2016)
-First Foods Upland Vision (CTUIR 2019)