Icicle Work Group shares progress made in Icicle Creek Watershed

LEAVENWORTH – A packed crowd gathered at the Leavenworth Firehall on Feb. 26 to hear progress updates on the Icicle Strategy, a collaborative effort to manage water resources and improve habitat in the Icicle watershed.

The Icicle Strategy was developed by the Icicle Work Group (IWG), which includes a diverse set of members representing local, state and federal agencies, tribes, irrigation and agricultural interests, and environmental organizations. The group formed in 2012 in response to legal disputes over resource management in the Icicle Creek Watershed involving multiple stakeholders.

“The collaboration and all the wonderful work that is going on in the increased flow improvement really speaks volumes to the power of people working together and sort of moving out of that litigation environment to a collaboration environment,” said Mike Kaputa, Director of Chelan County Natural Resources.

Members of IWG covered the Icicle Strategy’s key projects during the meeting, including the Eightmile Lake Dam rebuild, irrigation system upgrades, and improvements to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

One of the first projects of the Icicle Strategy was completed in 2020, in which Trout Unlimited oversaw the repositioning of a boulder field in Icicle Creek. The boulders were positioned to allow fish to pass through, opening access to miles of potential rearing habitat upstream. The Department of Fish and Wildlife assisted with building appropriate fish screens for both the city and irrigation district diversions located upstream of the boulder field. The Snow Creek Trail bridge was also replaced, which enabled the construction of a fish screen for a different irrigation district diversion in 2023.

In addition to implementing a fish screen, the City of Leavenworth has been utilizing upgraded metering systems to better track municipal water usage and leaks. Mayor Carl Florea told residents that the city is working to identify wells in order to lessen its dependence on surface water.

The Cascade Orchard Irrigation Company (COIC) made major improvements this last year, replacing its gravity fed canal system that diverted water from river mile 4.5, with a pressurized pump system at mile point river mile 1.9. The system change allows for more water to flow through a critical stretch of Icicle Creek for fish, while improving flow efficiency. The new system plans to be operational by May 2025. Nearby, the Chelan County Department of Natural Resources completed the Fromm Streambank Restoration and Riparian Planting project in 2022.

The Icicle-Peshastin Irrigation District has also made significant upgrades in piping and canal lining in order to reduce water loss in transport. The improvements have saved seven cubic feet per second (CFS) of water, nearing its goal of ten CFS, according to the irrigation district.

At the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, a water reuse system called Partial Recirculating Aquaculture Systems is currently being tested as an alternative to the hatchery’s infrastructure that dates back to the 1940s. 

“It's technology that involves rearing fish in circular tanks that have improved ability to remove solids, and then you couple that with recirculation, with where you're filtering water, you're treating it with UV to kill pathogens, and then you're returning it to the rearing unit. So doing that, we can reuse around 70 percent of the water we're bringing in,” said Complex Manager Bill Gale.

Just below the hatchery, the IWG is managing sedimentation build up that has affected catch per unit effort at the tribal fishery, which is utilized by the Yakama Nation and Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Restrooms are also getting installed this spring.

The IWG is currently in the design process to overhaul outdated infrastructure in Alpine Lakes reservoirs, making dam safety improvements and infrastructure upgrades needed to support automation and optimization of lake releases. The nearly 100-year-old dam at Eight Mile Lake is also slated to be replaced by a new dam and outlet infrastructure, intended to increase safety and instream flow. 

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media