Please join us at The Pearl, Ellensburg, WA for a social and guest speaker!

Location:

The Pearl [Back Room], 402 N Pearl St, Ellensburg, WA 98926

Details:

• Doors Open - 5:30 PM
• Social - 6:00 to 6:45 PM. Includes appetizer plates and one complimentary drink at hosted bar.
• Speaker - 6:45 to 7:45 PM
• Adjourn - 8:30 PM

Registration Fees (Must Register by Wednesday, November 13th):

• $30 = Non-members and guests 
• $25 = AWRA-WA current members
• Free = Students (must be currently enrolled full-time)

You can pay using a credit card by registering online. If you are planning to pay in person at the event, please note that we can only accept in-person payments in the form of cash or a check. A receipt can be provided upon request. 

AWRA-WA will fully refund the registration fee if cancellation notice is received at least 4 days before the event.

Meet the Speaker: 

Mel Babik, Restoration Director, Kittitas Conservation Trust (KCT)

Mel Babik joined KCT in June 2023. She holds a Master of Science degree from Central Washington University as well as a Master in Elementary Education from Western Governor’s University. Mel has an extensive history in the Yakima Basin. She served as a board member for Kittitas Environmental Education Network, worked as an Environmental Education Specialist for the Forest Service, taught 5th and 8th grades, was a Project Manager for Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, and served as a Biologist for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Mel has gained valuable experience enhancing headwater streams, leading restoration efforts post wildfire, managing forest health projects, and engaging communities in restoration. She led local beaver reintroduction efforts from 2011-2015 and sat on the statewide Beaver Working Group that developed a program to support Certified Beaver Relocators. Mel is so grateful to the partners and community members in the Yakima Basin that have supported her restoration and outreach efforts. 

First Talk: Mission Impossible: Gold Creek Valley Restoration

Gold Creek is home to a genetically distinct population of ESA-listed Bull trout and its seasonal dewatering and degraded habitat are in urgent need of restoration. The Gold Creek Valley has been negatively impacted by decades of clear-cut logging, gravel mining, and residential development, which have dramatically impacted stream flows, limiting the recovery of Bull trout in Gold Creek. Seasonal dewatering occurs annually within the lower 2.5 miles of Gold Creek from late July to October. During the dewatering period, two major impediments to Bull trout occur: 1) migrating adults are prevented from reaching their spawning grounds upstream, and 2) juveniles stranded in isolated pools are exposed to predation and desiccation. Fewer than 50 spawners have been documented and annual redd counts continue to decline. Given the small population size, the proposed restoration actions are vital to this population's survival. This project aims to restore natural streamflow, enhance instream habitat complexity, and reconnect floodplains to improve Bull trout habitat in Gold Creek in river miles 0.5-3 and the adjacent floodplain. This project will fill 2 gravel borrow pits that drain water away from Gold Creek, narrow 2.5 miles of over-widened channel using 141 large wood structures, construct 1.4 miles of side channels, restore 47 acres of riparian and forested wetland habitat, and reconnect 245 acres of floodplain.

Second Talk: Kachess River Restoration Project

The Kachess River Restoration Project seeks to improve streamflow and habitat conditions to increase the carrying capacity for ESA-listed Bull trout and improve ecosystem function on approximately 1 mile of the Kachess River between the confluence of Mineral Creek and Little Kachess Lake. This project will improve instream flow and habitat suitability by narrowing the over widened channel, constructing groundwater connected scour pools, constructing a high flow refuge side channel, reconnecting the river to the floodplain, and removing infrastructure from the floodplain.