The purpose of this project is to protect and enhance habitat for improved natural production of indigenous, Mid-Columbia River (MCR) Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU) summer steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), and spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) within the North Fork of the John Day River Basin. The project entails coordinated, cooperative efforts to protect and improve anadromous fisheries habitat consistent with the strategies and objectives outlined in the John Day Subbasin Plan and other relevant planning and recovery documents.

This project originated in 2000 with initial on-the-ground implementations occurring in 2001.  These projects were implemented within lower Camas Creek tributaries (Snipe and Owens Creeks), Deer Creek and the Lower North Fork John Day River and later expanded to areas where the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) did not have a conservation agreement but worked with cooperators.  

To date, all projects have included cost share funding and/or in-kind assistance from various sources including the CTUIR, U.S. Department of Agriculture' s (USDA) Wildlife Habitat Incentive and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs (WHIP and CREP), U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF), North Fork John Day Watershed Council (NFJDWC), Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), U.S. Fish & Wildlife (USFWS) Partners for Wildlife Program, Umatilla National Forest (UNF), Community Action Program of East Central Oregon (CAPECO), and Columbia Power Cooperative Association.  The project has also partnered with other entities, including the UNF and Grant Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to assist them in obtaining NOAA cost share and habitat recovery on additional North and Middle Fork John Day tributaries.  These efforts have resulted in further enhancement of approximately 28 stream miles and 197 acres of floodplain and upland habitat.  Upland fencing associated with this project will be financed by these cost share entities.

The project continues to identify focus basins of Camas Creek, Desolation Creek, and Granite Creek. All basins contain a mix of privately held and publicly managed lands. Historic land management practices influenced each basin somewhat differently, however, the influence of grazing,  timber harvest, and transportation infrastructure occurred throughout all basins. The Granite Creek basin however, has been heavily placer and lode mined as well. Efforts in Camas Creek are ongoing with respect to two conservation agreements currently in place. Given the communities limited response to the Camas Creek Geomorphic Assessment our efforts have shifted to Desolation and Granite Creeks. The Project will become more active in Camas Creek as interest in implementing the geomorphic assessment again builds. Within Desolation Creek our efforts will be guided by the Desolation Creek Geomorphic Assessment and Action plan completed in 2017. Outside of priority restoration actions within Desolation Creek's floodplain and stream channel habitats the Project will work with collaborators to implement smaller scale actions, typically on tributaries, that were identified through the assessment. In Granite Creek work continues with regard to implementing the Bull Run Creek Action Plan developed by the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. After all priority actions are completed in the Bull Run Creek Basin the Project will need to reassess its restoration approach in the Granite Creek basin. Work on private land continues to be a priority for the Project and as such restoration actions such as that associated with the Granite Creek Conservation Agreement will continue.