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Last updated 9:21AM ET
February 12, 2012
KPLU Local News
KPLU Local News
Dam Removed On Yakima River Tributary
Tom Banse (2009-11-09)
Dam removal underway last month Tom Banse photo
SEATTLE, WA (N3) - With little fanfare, construction crews over the past couple months have torn down a 44-year-old dam on a tributary of the upper Yakima River in central Washington. The fisheries restoration project will celebrate its completion later this week. KPLU's Tom Banse reports.

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Bruton Dam diverted water for irrigation from Taneum (TAY-num) Creek in the Kittitas Valley. The concrete dam was only about 8 feet high, but it did a good job blocking fish passage. The Kittitas Conservation Trust received grants from multiple state and federal agencies to pay for the dam's removal. Area farmers had to be won over to make it happen, though. A breakthrough came when the Bureau of Reclamation offered to pipe in water from a different ditch to keep affected pastures green.

Bruton Dam's removal opens 30-miles of prime creek habitat to salmon spawning. It comes just a month after salmon and river advocates succeeded in removing another larger Northwest dam. Savage Rapids Dam formerly blocked southern Oregon's Rogue River. I'm Tom Banse reporting.

The Kittitas Conservation Trust will host a celebration and public tour of the completed dam removal this Thursday (Nov. 12). The celebration will include a release of adult coho salmon. © Copyright 2012, N3