Efforts underway to save fishing at Blackbird Island Pond from permanent closure

LEAVENWORTH – Last year, Blackbird Island Pond, a designated fishing spot for youth and seniors, was forced to end its fishing season in July due to failing infrastructure. Without necessary repairs, it may not reopen.

Icicle Valley Trout Unlimited, a regional chapter of the cold water conservation-focused non-profit, is taking steps to ensure this isn’t the case.

“There aren't too many places around here where kids can just go and sort of fish on their own. The Wenatchee is mostly closed, except for occasional salmon season…Up the Icicle, it's a pretty good spot to fish, but it can be kind of dangerous,” Icicle Valley Chapter member Mike Wyant.

In 2000, the island’s two former gravel pits were transformed into the present-day pond through the efforts of Icicle Valley Trout Unlimited and additional partners. In order to ensure cold, oxygenated water for fish survival, a pump system was built to retrieve one cubic foot per second from the Wenatchee River on the south end of the pond, which would return to the river from the north end.

For a period of time, the pond’s pump system was overseen by Chelan County PUD, who was using the pond to acclimate juvenile steelhead. However, after not achieving wanted results, the utility district pulled out of its responsibilities in 2016.

The pond continued to be stocked with 1,000 to 1,200 cutthroat trout by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) each year, while Trout Unlimited and the City of Leavenworth helped maintain the pond and its surrounding area. Over the years, it continued as a fishing season enjoyed by visitors, Icicle Valley Trout Unlimited’s annual youth fishing event, and Wenatchee River Institute’s (WRI) summer day camps. 

“We've always loved that this pond is set up for youth, and there's not many things that are just set up for youth…It just gives this wonderful opportunity for them to do something outside and with their family members, and then just also [learn] about the role of fish in the ecosystem,” said WRI Youth Programs Coordinator Deanna Butcher.

According to Butcher, the visit to the pond is usually the highlight of the week for the day campers. The camps typically spend an entire day at the pond, not only learning how to fish with Icicle Valley, but also about the fish and their surrounding ecosystem.

“If you spend any time at all, as we do with the kids, talking about the relationship between the fish that you're getting here and in the broader environment, then it sort of opens the door to this understanding that these fish are only here because we as humans on the landscape have taken at least a certain degree of care,” said Wyant.

However, the pond’s intake pipe, which was formerly managed by the PUD, remained neglected in the river over the years, eventually leading to the pump system’s 2024 failure.

“We just hope that it can get in working order, because it's such a keystone in our community. [It’s] where a lot of kids learn how to fish, and then want to go back and continue fishing with their family,” said Butcher.

Icicle Valley Trout Unlimited is currently working to secure funding that would guarantee a working pump for the 2025 summer season. It's just one piece of the group’s vision to revitalize the pond over the next year. If it can obtain the funding and permits, the chapter plans to make safety improvements around the shoreline, bring fishing access into current compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, remove fallen trees, and add a teaching kiosk.

In June, Icicle Valley Trout Unlimited will find out it was approved for a $35,000 grant from WDFW, which would cover most of the improvements. In the meantime, it’s working on alternative funding. 

So far, the group has been awarded $5,000 from the Chamber of Commerce’s Funding it Forward project, and $2,200 from the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited. It has also secured a financial and in-kind donation from Marson and Marson Lumber for the removal, cleaning, and reinstallation of the intake pipe. As the project nears, the group will be seeking volunteers to clear brush and lay gravel.

“In the long term, if someone in the community has some thoughts about sustainability. We'd love to talk…Our group is aging, you know. We're not all going to be around forever, and we'd like to see this pond be a resource for decades to come, just like it's been for decades in the past,” said Wyant.

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