The John Day is the nation’s second longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States and the longest containing entirely unsupplemented runs of anadromous fish.  Located in eastern Oregon, the basin drains over 8,000 square miles, Oregon’s fourth largest drainage basin, and incorporates portions of eleven counties.  Originating in the Strawberry Mountains near Prairie City, the John Day River flows 284 miles in a northwesterly direction, entering the Columbia River approximately four miles upstream of the John Day dam.  With wild runs of spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead, westslope cutthroat, and redband and bull trout, the John Day system is truly a basin with national significance.

The majority of the John Day basin was ceded to the Federal government in 1855 by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribes).  In 1997, the Tribes established an office in the basin to coordinate restoration projects, monitoring, planning and other watershed activities on private and public lands.  Once established, the John Day Basin Office (JDBO) formed a partnership with local  Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Watershed Councils, and other organizations to assist in the implementation of these projects.

For projects covered under the Capital contract, the JDBO works with local SWCDs, Watershed Councils, and other agencies to complete landowner contacts, preliminary planning, engineering designs, permitting, construction contracting, and construction implementation phases for most projects. The JDBO completes the planning, grant solicitation/defense, environmental compliance, administrative contracting, monitoring, juniper removal contracting, water development implementation, riparian planting, and reporting portion of the program.  Most phases of project planning, implementation, and monitoring are coordinated with the private landowners and basin agencies.