Senate committee hears bill to extend Yakima Basin milestones, keep Tiena Way land in community forest

The Washington State Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on June 30 heard testimony on Senate Bill 5303, which would extend deadlines in the Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan so that milestones for securing permits and funding for water supply facilities move from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2035. Jeff Olson, staff to the committee, told members the bill would extend the statutory milestones and noted the bill contains an emergency clause that would take effect on June 30 of this year.

The Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan was developed collaboratively by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Washington Department of Ecology and many basin stakeholders to improve water management, protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and increase reliability of irrigation, municipal and domestic water supplies. Olson said the plan directs the Department of Ecology to prepare financing plans and requires the Washington Water Research Center to review cost-benefit analyses for components over $100 million; those statutory review requirements are scheduled to expire July 1, 2025, under current law.

Under existing law cited in committee testimony, the Department of Natural Resources was authorized in 2013 to buy land to be held in a Community Forest Trust; DNR purchased more than 50,000 acres to establish the Tiena Way Community Forest. Olson said the 2013 authorization included a condition that if permits and financing were in place by June 30, 2025, for facilities producing at least 214,000 acre-feet of water, the land would remain in the Community Forest Trust; if not, the Board of Natural Resources could place the land into the Common School Trust to be managed for beneficiaries. SB 5303 would extend the deadline to July 1, 2035, preserving the option to keep the land in the community forest while basin projects advance.

Stakeholders who testified in favor of the extension said projects to develop storage and groundwater recharge are costly and take time. Phil Rigdon, a Yakama Nation representative and tribal Department of Natural Resources superintendent, described recent drought impacts on fish and communities and said the tribe has invested about $1 million in salmon restoration work on basin lands. Tom Tebb, director of the Office of Columbia River, told the committee his office’s 2022 report found the June 30, 2025 deadline unlikely to be met and recommended additional time because new water-storage development has proven costly and technically challenging.

Conservation groups and local leaders also spoke in support of the extension. Brandon Parsons of American Rivers and other conservation witnesses described cooperation among irrigators, tribes and environmental groups and said additional time would let conservation and water-supply milestones remain aligned. Rick Maguire of the Alpine Lakes Protection Society and other conservation groups urged repeal of statutory language they called a “poison pill” that would revert community-forest land to the Common School Trust if milestones are missed; Maguire also asked for a performance audit of the Office of Columbia River before new capital funds are provided.

State agencies said they support technical refinements. Pat Sullivan, Department of Natural Resources director of governmental and external affairs, said DNR strongly supports the 10-year extension. Tom Tebb of the Office of Columbia River said Ecology and OCR have worked with the bill sponsor and that a technical amendment to clarify the State Treasurer’s role in a required cost-estimate/funding-plan report would improve the bill; Matt Zivich of the State Treasurer’s Office also supported a technical amendment to clarify roles.

Committee staff and senators asked questions about which projects have advanced and how conservation and storage will combine. Testimony cited completed or near-complete projects (Cleone Pool Race was identified as expected to be operational by 2026) and listed other projects, such as Springwood Ranch and groundwater storage efforts, as work in progress. Witnesses emphasized that conservation, piping and lining canals, and other conservation measures are part of plans to create supply that can then be stored and retimed for late-season use.

The committee suspended the public hearing for SB 5303 earlier in the meeting to take another agenda item and then reopened it later to hear public testimony. No formal vote on the bill occurred during the hearing.

Closing notes: multiple witnesses asked the Legislature to allow additional time so collaborative work on storage, conservation and permitting can continue; agencies recommended a narrow technical amendment to clarify the Treasurer’s reporting role; conservation witnesses urged either repeal or careful review of statutory triggers that would transfer community-forest land out of the Trust if milestones are not achieved by the deadline.