Monitoring & Research

The NFJDWC participates in monitoring and research throughout the John Day Basin. Current monitoring and research focus on resource impacts post restoration and system-wide limiting factors and data-collection analysis, to identify trends and causes of limitations to anadromous fish production.

John Day River IMW
(Intensively Monitored Watershed)

The Middle Fork John Day River represents a vital cold water fishery which has historically been very productive for bull trout, Chinook salmon, and steelhead. The Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW) in the Middle Fork has sought to provide a platform for researchers to study many different factors affecting fish production in an anthropologically impacted system with active restoration being performed. The IMW began in 2008. Originally planned as a 10 year study, the IMW continues today to continue monitoring and observe longer term trends that exist in riverine systems. The NFJDWC currently collects macroinvertebrates, hourly temperature readings, and water discharge at several key creeks throughout the upper Middle Fork.

For more information visit: http://middleforkimw.org.

North Fork John Day River Monitoring

With the advent of the John Day Basin Partnership (JDBP) and the Focused Investment Partnership in the John Day Basin, it was found that, unlike the Middle Fork, the North Fork of the John Day River has a limited amount of data available to evaluate common limiting factors for fisheries. While still in the early stages of implementation, the North Fork Monitoring project will expand water temperature and discharge monitoring throughout the North Fork, supporting restoration and management for the JDBP. This project is also poised to support specific restoration projects and will provide valuable information that can be used to prioritize or eliminate certain practices that prove more or less effective.

Research

The NFJDWC works with local, state, federal, and academic organizations to conduct research and study hypothesis pertaining to watershed production for both fish and upland species, as well as the effects that various resource demanding operations have on watershed systems. Range monitoring, water quality, and water quantity are areas of special interest to the Council as these are indicators of watershed health. The Council considers all watershed issues from a ridgetop to ridgetop perspective. While there is generally much interest in the stream prism, the uplands have a significant impact on water. Many of these effects are not fully understood and quite a lot of research is still needed to improve the knowledge and management of these important ecosystems and landscapes.

2024 Restoration Updates

Summer/fall 2024 were busy seasons for the North Fork John Day Watershed Council. Partway through our instream work window (the 30 days of the year when we are allowed to use equipment in the stream in order to improve habitat), fires broke out and shut out our work. We shifted towards community efforts to help keep folks informed, safe and outfitted with the resources they needed at the time. One of the fires burned down to Sixmile creek where we were part way through installing Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs) and Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS) in order to improve fish habitat, increase water retention and minimize flood risk.

September 2024

January 2025

After the fire was extinguished and the Oregon Department of Forestry deemed it safe for us to continue our work, we completed the two miles of instream work on Sixmile Creek. Through partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife habitat program, landowners and a contracted crew, we were able to install 80 Beaver Dam Analogs, 88 Post Assisted Log Structrures and 13 wood structures.

Instream restoration varies in intensity, and one of our projects this year was on the more intensive end of the spectrum. These robust interventions are necessary when significant ecological benefits and physical responses require substantial inputs. For Camp Creek Reach 1, our objective was to fully reconnect the floodplain and create a multi-channel streamscape to provide groundwater and surface water connectivity during the hot summer months, offering cold water habitat for juvenile Chinook and steelhead. This project was completed in partnership with the Malheur National Forest Blue Mountain Ranger District and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.

While some types of instream restoration may initially appear dramatic or even unsightly, restoring natural processes allows ecosystems to reestablish themselves, ultimately benefiting many species including birds, bats, elk, deer, insects, amphibians and fish. We jump started the revegetation by planting 12,000 rooted willows and cottonwoods, 50 sedge mats and we reseeded the entire project area with native grasses. Additional plants will be added in fall 2025.

We are monitoring our project sites to evaluate the effectiveness of our restoration actions. This includes using groundwater wells to measure the water table, temperature loggers to track water temperature, and repeated photo monitoring to document physical changes.