Yakima River Canyon

Yakima River Canyon

The WDFW Yakima River Access Site at milepost 8 on Canyon Road (Hwy 821) is a popular spot for recreation and has been primarily managed as fish and wildlife habitat. In recent years, the site has become increasingly popular. Because of the lack of infrastructure, undirected recreation, dumping, and vandalism occurs and so the site and adjacent habitat are quickly becoming degraded. The BLM has two sites in the vicinity and is planning improvements.

These improvements will attract more recreationists to this portion of the Yakima Canyon and the WDFW sites will see increased use as a result. This project will establish a defined centralized parking area for 15 vehicles, create an unimproved non-motorized drift boat and raft take-out, install an accessible vault toilet, convert 1000-2000 feet of dirt roads to trails, and limit driving access through the sensitive riparian zone. Re-vegetation of the shoreline will also occur to restore riparian function. The Yakima River Canyon is a tremendously popular recreation area in south-central Washington.

The Yakima Canyon is also one of the State’s best blue-ribbon trout fisheries, with several hundred boating trips per day, on average, during summer months. Additionally, summer floating through the Yakima Canyon provides a unique recreational experience to thousands of state citizens each year. Central Washington’s hot dry weather is perfect for floating, fishing, or wildlife viewing through the grassy, sagebrush-covered hills of the scenic Yakima Canyon.