John Day Basin Private Lands Partnership

The Tribes’ John Day Watershed Restoration Program is in the process of planning and designing multiple restoration projects within the 2022-2026 timeframe with a primary focal area of the Upper Middle Fork and Upper Mainstem John Day rivers. The riparian restoration components of these efforts fall outside of in-stream work and we intend to supplement revegetation efforts through the proposed project. PCSRF funding will be used for riparian planting and fencing and will compliment the in-stream restoration effort for which the tribes are the leading project management and implementation organization. All funds secured through this proposal and used to complete these project components will be matched with in-stream restoration funding, the overall intent of which is to implement holistic restoration projects in critical salmonid spawning and rearing habitat that fully address the suite of limiting factors present within a given reach.



WS #1: Phipps Meadow Habitat Restoration



The Phipps Meadow property is located at the headwaters of the MF John Day River. This project will be used to plant and fence the meadow in an effort to revegetate the riparian area and reduce thermal loading throughout the reach. These efforts will complement the in-stream restoration effort for which the Tribes are the lead project management and implementation organization. Fencing efforts will be initiated in 2023 and planting will follow in-stream implementation currently slated for 2025.



WS #2: Mainstem John Day Forrest Conservation Area (MSFCA) Restoration



The MSFCA is a Tribally-owned property currently in design for restoration anticipated to be implemented in 2024. The MSFCA is 3,445 acres (545 floodplain, riparian, and wetland and 2,900 uplands). There are 1.7 miles of the upper mainstem John Day River located on the property. This project will perform riparian planting and fencing and will complement the in-stream restoration effort for which the tribes are the leading project management and implementation organization. Planting and fencing efforts will be implemented concurrently following the in-stream implementation, currently slated for 2024.



WS #3: MF John Day Forrest Conservation Area



Ongoing planting efforts are intended to help meet objectives relating to improved riparian condition and reduced thermal load, ultimately resulting in the amelioration of in-stream temperatures during the summer rearing period. Extensive planting efforts have been implemented, and continued efforts will protect these plantings and complement in-stream restoration.



WS #4: MF John Day Oxbow Conservation Area



Rehabilitation of riparian condition has been a primary objective of post-restoration stewardship activities, and efforts through this project will contribute to planting within existing exclusion fencing as well as protecting established riparian vegetation. Several new exclosures were constructed within the project footprint in 2022 and will be high priority areas for installing plants in 2023-2025.



WS #5: MF John Day Dunstan Conservation Area



Improved riparian condition is a primary objective at this area and this project will support ongoing efforts to establish and protect riparian vegetation within the project area. Efforts through this award will focus on planting within existing exclusion fencing installed during the fall of 2023.

The Middle Fork and Upper Mainstem John Day River are home to two anadromous fish species: ESA-listed summer steelhead and spring Chinook salmon. High water temperature is a widespread concern throughout the John Day River basin as it pertains to adult spawning and juvenile rearing habitat, and is a primary limiting factor to Chinook and steelhead recovery in the Middle Fork John Day. Much of the upper Middle Fork lacks shading riparian vegetation, resulting in high solar inputs to the stream and increasing water temperatures significantly. Late summer temperatures verge on the upper thermal tolerances of salmonids, commonly reaching up to 21*C. This contributes to not only the reduced survival of salmonids, but increases stress on spawning adults.



The work proposed in this project is guided by, and consistent with, the following re storation, action, and priority plans:



1. The CTWS John Day River Watershed Restoration Strategy is the guiding document for all restoration activities performed by CTWS in the John Day basin. The plan merges Tribal fisheries objectives with best available data to create a landscape-scale prioritization framework and restorative action roadmap for the implementation of restoration.



Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. 2015. John Day River Watershed Restoration Strategy. https://fisheries.warmsprings-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/John-Day-Watershed-Restoration-Strategy_042315-1.pdf



2. The John Day Basin Partnership Strategic Action Plan is the guiding document for nearly 30 agencies and tribal organizations for prioritizing, designing, and implementing restoration in the John Day Basin.



John Day Basin Partnership. 2018. John Day Basin Partnership Strategic Action Plan. https://www.johndaybasinpartnership.org/About/johndaybasin



3. The John Day Basin Partnership has used the Bonneville Power Administration’s ATLAS prioritization framework to collaboratively analyze the most current biological and physical habitat data to prioritize sub-watersheds within the John Day Basin and rank restoration opportunities within those watersheds. The Partnerships Prioritization utilized the Atlas Framework to determined tier I, II, and III priority areas and prioritized hundreds of restoration opportunities within these watersheds. The goals are to assist partners to implement projects that will address the highest priority limiting habitat factors to benefit the limiting life stages for focal species within the basin. The Mainstem Forrest Conservation Area and the Phipps Meadow Property are both within Tier 1 priority watersheds per this prioritization.



Bonneville Power Administration. 2018. Atlas – Evidence Based Prioritization Framework. https://www.rrnw.org/wp-content/uploads/10.1Kaplowe-RRNW-Atlas-Summary-2-7-18.pdf