Contributed photoA woven-wire fence installed at the Desolation Creek LLC property in the Southern Blue Mountains as a North Fork John Day Watershed Council project in 2017 protects aspen groves from elk and deer.

The North Fork John Day Watershed Council recently received funding that will help them complete three restoration projects this year. The awards were announced by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Funding comes from the Oregon Lottery.

The Bear Creek Restoration Project was awarded $81,200. Work is expected to take place from July through September. The tributary to the Middle Fork of the John Day River is located about a mile downstream from Galena.

The project includes excavating a channel through historic mine tailings, placing large pieces of wood in the creek and creating beaver dam analogues in the creek to improve fish habitat.

“This project will allow migratory fish access to a previously inaccessible drainage while also improving that habitat for spawning and rearing of juvenile salmon and steelhead,” project coordinator Justin Powell said.

Phase 3 of the Desolation Creek Wet Meadow Restoration Project was awarded $73,233. The project calls for installing 2.5 miles of fencing to protect 25.5 acres of sensitive wet meadow habitat and is expected to take place from June through December.

Desolation Creek originates in the Southern Blue Mountains and drains about 69,643 acres with 230 stream miles. The watershed provides critical spawning and rearing habitat for mid-Columbia spring-run chinook salmon, bull trout and mid-Columbia steelhead. Both bull trout and steelhead are designated for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The project will take place on a 13,400-acre property purchased by Ecotrust Forest Management Inc. in 2014 for restoration and community investment. The land is mostly kept open to the public for hiking and camping, with three families leasing portions of the property for livestock.

“When landowners partner with the North Fork John Day Watershed Council and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, great restoration work can be done,” said Marty Eisenbraun, a natural resource manager with Ecotrust Forest Management. “Critical habitat restoration work is accomplished while still managing timber and range resources.”

The Walton: Ritter Land Management Team Granite Creek Restoration Project was awarded $103,687. The work is expected to take place from July through December.

Granite Creek is considered an important fish-bearing tributary of the Middle Fork of the John Day River. The project will take place near Highway 395 about 2-3 miles north of the Ritter bridge on adjacent properties owned by Paul Walton and Jimmy Walton.

Encroaching juniper will be removed on 100 acres and noxious weeds will be sprayed on 50 acres. To allow increased livestock management in the area, four springs will be developed to supply watering troughs and about 1 mile of fencing will be installed along Granite Creek.

“This project demonstrates that natural resource concerns and private landowner goals can come together to form a mutually beneficial project,” Jimmy Walton said. “This undertaking provides riparian protection on Granite Creek, develops dependable alternative water sources, eliminates invasive weeds and thins upland juniper.”

The North Fork John Day Watershed Council was established in the mid-1990s to work with agencies and private landowners to develop upland, in-stream and riparian restoration projects, Executive Director Valeen Madden said.

With a staff of five full-time workers, the nonprofit group maintains an office in Long Creek and partners with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon Department of Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, Grant Soil & Water Conservation District and other agencies.

The council also manages the only Oregon Youth Conservation Corps crew in Grant County, she said. The 14- to 18 year-old workers are typically hired for five-week sessions, Madden said.

This year, the crew will remove fencing and plant vegetation along Long Creek, maintain trails in the wilderness, help the Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance construct new bike trails in the Magone Lake area and install fencing to protect young aspen stands from elk and deer.

Aspen stands provide good habitat for birds and small mammals and aid in water retention, Madden said. After they’ve matured and fencing is removed, the aspen stands will provide important winter habitat for elk and deer, she said.

For more information on the North Fork John Day Watershed Council, visit nfjdwc.org or call 541-421-3018.