Projects in the North Fork John Day Ranger District and Malheur National Forest be underway.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced on March 9 that they plan to invest up to $40 million for 29 projects on national forests in Oregon and Washington through the Great American Outdoors Act. The press release from Umatilla National Forest states that the projects will address critical deferred maintenance and improve transportation and recreation infrastructure.

The Blue Mountain Scenic Byway Chip Seal project in the North Fork John Day Ranger District is one of the 29 projects close to Grant County. This project in the Umatilla National Forest plans to repair 33.6 miles of existing road on a 145-mile route that travels from near Arlington to Granite.

The deferred maintenance on this portion of the road will reduce risk to public safety and extend the life of the route for 10-20 years, according to the release.

A culvert replacement project in the Malheur National Forest will also benefit from the money allocated from the Great American Outdoors Act.

Responses from Chase Bloom, the Engineering, Minerals & Fleet staff officer, and Lindsay Davies, the Fisheries Program manager, for the Malheur National Forest, state that the forest will be replacing five culverts to reduce deferred maintenance, improve flood flow capacity and aquatic organism passage during the summer of 2021.

“This new funding source provides an incredible boost in our ability to reduce deferred maintenance across the forest, promote the longevity of transportation and access across public lands, and restore the connectivity of fisheries habitat for native fish,” their response states.

They said local companies, through existing contracts, will complete the work, which will generally begin around June 15 and be completed by Oct. 15.

Two culverts are being replaced on Middle Fork Wolf Creek, on Forest Road 15 and 1500-028 on the Emigrant Creek Ranger District.

On the Blue Mountain Ranger District, projects include one culvert at the Summit Creek crossing on Forest Road 1940-281 east of Austin Junction and north of Highway 26; one culvert at the East Fork Beech Creek crossing on Forest Road 3600-052; and implementing one culvert in partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife at the Tinker Creek crossing on Forest Road 3620 near Magone Lake.

“We are looking forward to continued opportunities to make targeted, strategic investments in our infrastructure over the entire five-year life of the Great American Outdoors Act,” Bloom and Davies said.