Intensively Monitored Watershed
The Middle of the John Day River is one of the most active locations for stream restoration in the Pacific Northwest. Dozens of projects aimed at improving salmon and steelhead habitat, as well as increasing water quality and quantity have already been completed. With more projects currently underway and still more in development, it is important know how and to what extent the overall health of the watershed is improving.
Weather StationTo find this out, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) have designated the upper Middle Fork as an intensively monitored watershed (IMW). Initiated in the spring of 2008, the Middle Fork IMW will track watershed conditions over a ten year period to evaluate restoration activities and their influence on the river as a whole.
Most of the monitoring is bio-physical and involves the study of stream water temperature data, fish counts, macro invertebrate sampling, groundwater processes and weather conditions. Seventy temperature loggers have been deployed from the headwaters of the Middle Fork to the confluence of Big Creek. Mile-long reaches are being monitored every few feet by fiber optic cable to track the slightest fluctuations in stream temperature from groundwater-surface water exchanges and the ongoing restoration activities. All this is maintained and the data compiled by various IMW partners, including the NFJDWC, The Nature Conservancy, Malheur National Forest, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Reclamation, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, Grant Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Freshwater Trust.
In addition to the bio-physical monitoring, the NFJDWC is working with the University of Oregon and Oregon State University to find ways to measure the economic impact of all the restoration work taking place on the Middle Fork.
