Fish & wildlife Success stories John Day River

 
Success stories — John Day River

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Landowners and Conservationists Join Forces to Protect the John Day Basin

The John Day Basin, perhaps more than any other region in the world, reflects the dramatic developments of the earth’s evolution. Located in the north-central part of Oregon, its rugged geography of multilayered ridges and plateaus are the physical remnants of the basin’s volcanic past. Its rich deposits of plant and animal fossils provide one of the fullest records of terrestrial history.

The John Day River, one of the main tributaries of the Columbia River, flows west from the Blue Mountains and then north through the deeply carved landscape. It is the longest free-flowing river with wild anadromous salmon and steelhead in the continental United States. It provides some of the best habitat for summer steelhead and one of the few remaining wild spring Chinook runs in the Columbia Basin.

Since 1988, the Grant Soil and Water District has directed funding to a variety of projects to protect and improve the basin’s fish and wildlife resources. Securing grants from a number of federal and state agencies, the conservation district has completed restoration projects to improve habitat in the upper South Fork of the John Day River. Projects have included stream bank stabilization, riparian protection fencing, and rebuilding diversion dams for fish passage. Its most recent endeavor has been to help clear juniper and other invasive weeds from several ranches in the basin. So far, this effort has cut 3,073 acres of juniper and sprayed 4,448 acres of noxious weeds over the past three years.

One of the hallmarks of the conservation district has been the tremendous support it has received from private landowners. Ken Delano, district manager, gives full credit to these partners. “The projects are a huge benefit to them, but it’s a public benefit, too,” says Delano. “Without the concern and perseverance of the private landowners to stay with these projects year after year, we wouldn’t be able to do the watershed enhancement in the basin.”

Phil St. Clair is one of those landowners, and he also serves as chairman of the Upper South Fork Watershed Council. More than 250 acres of St. Clair’s ranch have been treated for weed control. Other project work on the St. Clair Ranch has included adding off-site stock water developments and pasture cross-fencing to improve grazing management. St. Clair, who has played an active role in restoring the basin’s habitat since the mid-1980s is equally positive about the conservation district’s work, saying “The Grant SWCD has a good track record in the state of Oregon. I brag about them all of the time.”

before noxious weed control after weed control

Delano has been encouraged by the results of the weed control efforts even though noxious weed and invasive species may never be eliminated. He believes there might be reason to do more of it in a basin region that the district has been cleaning up for years. “We’ll have enough information to tell us if the juniper treatment is providing more water on a significant level to the watershed flow, and then we’ll try to go on with more juniper control and try to build it into everybody’s work plan on the private lands,” says Delano.

Other basinwide restoration activities have included removing fish-passage barriers by designing and constructing flat-lying stanchion structures, pump stations, and infiltration galleries to replace annually installed irrigation diversions. Over 80 sites have been treated so far. Contractors have also shaped and graded mine tailing rock to restore the floodplain at sites on the Middle Fork, Granite Creek, and Clear Creek; over one million cubic yards of tailing rock have been treated, generating nearly 100 acres of potential floodplain.

“When a restoration effort brings tangible benefits to people, it’s going to generate support and trust,” says Delano. “The restoration partnership in Grant County has succeeded because of a level of teamwork that’s unique in Oregon, and maybe in the Northwest.” It’s that degree of cooperation and involvement that has made all the difference in the John Day Basin.

before streambank stabilization

after stabilization