Bull Run Creek RM 3 Phase II Implementation

The Bull Run Creek RM 3 Project is located in Grant County, OR near the town of Granite. Bull Run Creek is a cold-water tributary of Granite Creek in the North Fork John Day River’s headwaters and is critical for recovery of ESA listed and unlisted native species. Granite Creek and its larger tributaries were extensively dredge mined with the floodplain turned over from hillslope to hillslope. After mining ceased, tailings were left in place confining creeks to narrow bands within the historic floodplain, which severely impaired floodplain connectivity, groundwater storage potential, and stream process. Habitats supporting ESA listed bull trout and summer steelhead trout and unlisted native species such as spring Chinook salmon and Pacific lamprey, among others, have been impaired for 80+ years. This project was listed as a priority action in the Bull Run Creek Action Plan with development beginning in 2017 by the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, North Fork John Day Watershed Council, and CTUIR. The final design includes a phased approach with Phase 1 completed in 2023. Phase 1 created 9.75 acres of inset floodplain, 2,875’ of new channel, 243 large wood structures, and ~3,000 native cuttings and sedge. During October of 2024 an additional 2,000 willow plugs were also planted. Phase 2 will include additional tailing cut to remove tailings not included in the Phase 1 design to open the floodplain a bit more, additional large wood structures to increase floodplain and stream channel complexity, development of floodplain depressions and swales to guide and slow flows across the floodplain, berms to stabilize and improve existing habitat, activation of new channel and filling portions of the existing channel as part of activating the new channel. Additional cut is possible as wasting areas have more capacity than originally estimated and increasing the inset floodplain area inherently decreases flow energy in the channel and across the floodplain.

The Kuckucéepe téekin (Bull Run Creek RM 3) Project site is located in Grant County, three miles south of Granite, Oregon. Bull Run Creek is a cold-water tributary of Granite Creek in the North Fork John Day River’s headwaters and critical to recovery of ESA listed bull trout and summer steelhead trout and species of interest such as spring Chinook salmon, Pacific lamprey, and mussels. By the early 1940s dredge mining turned over much of the lower Granite Creek basin, including the project site, from hillslope to hillslope. Recovery through natural process was inhibited by tailings left in place after mining ceased which confined streams to a narrow band within the larger historic floodplain and available stream power unable to reorganize tailings. Ecologic concerns include compromised floodplain connectivity and complexity, channel morphology and complexity, native hardwood populations, and water quality and groundwater resources. Goals and objectives for this effort are specific to resetting site conditions to allow for recovery through natural processes. This includes improved floodplain and stream channel complexity and morphology, recovery of floodplain and riparian sedge and hardwood communities and site appropriate sediment mobilization and deposition such that it supports recovery of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitat. This includes establishment of robust beaver dam complexes in the long term. The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF) recognized the importance of Bull Run Creek in its multidisciplinary approach to land management, including, dredge tailing restoration. This project was selected as a priority action in their Bull Run Creek Action Plan. The WWNF, North Fork John Day Watershed Council (WC), and CTUIR have collaborated since 2017 to develop this effort culminating of Phase 1‘s implementation in 2023.