In response to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s request on March 20, 2026, the ISRP reviewed a revised proposal for a project from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), titled Pacific Northwest Aquatic Restoration Partnership in the John Day River Basin (BPA project #2023-004-00). The USFS revised the proposal in response to the ISRP’s review of the project’s original proposal (ISRP document 2024-1; November 18, 2024).
The project implements a 2022 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between BPA and the USFS to work toward recovery of salmon, steelhead, and bull trout populations in the Columbia River Basin through targeted habitat restoration actions across three National Forests (Malheur, Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman) in the John Day River Basin, Oregon. The John Day River is the fourth longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States, providing habitat for Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, and Pacific lamprey.
In its November 2024 review, the ISRP found that although the project had the potential to provide significant benefits to salmon, steelhead, and bull trout in the John Day Basin, the proposal lacked adequate detail to assess if the proposed actions were based on sound scientific principles and will result in the assumed benefits. Consequently, the ISRP requested a response and a revised proposal to provide further detail related to SMART objectives, methods, provisions for monitoring and evaluation, and a project adjustment process. On March 19, 2026, the USFS provided a revised proposal and supporting documents to respond to the ISRP’s request.
ISRP Review Recommendation: Meets scientific review criteria (conditional)
Some ISRP response requests were adequately addressed in the revised proposal and the extensive supplemental documents that the ISRP reviewed. However, other important issues were not addressed adequately concerning SMART objectives, the project selection process, provisions for monitoring and evaluation, and adaptive management. The ISRP recommends that those issues need to be addressed for the project to fully meet scientific review criteria. The ISRP recommends that these issues be addressed in the project’s next annual report.
Although a considerable number of project issues and challenges remain, the ISRP is optimistic that the project has the potential to provide significant benefits to anadromous salmonids and bull trout in the John Day Basin for numerous reasons:
- The project is being implemented in critical habitat for anadromous salmonids and bull trout in the John Day Basin, an important stronghold in the Columbia River Basin.
- The project is a component of an extensive multi-entity partnership and large-scale restoration and monitoring efforts in the John Day River Basin (e.g., Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW), Mid-Columbia Steelhead Recovery Plan implementation, and the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program).
- The Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) projects are being designed with the Stream Simulation Manual, which represents a solid approach to road culvert replacement.
- The project prioritization and selection methods appear to be solid (Atlas and USFS) even though the proposal lacks detail on specific project prioritization results.
- There is extensive habitat restoration effectiveness and population status and trends monitoring underway associated with other projects including the IMW.
- A number of the partners with whom the project collaborates are knowledgeable and have been involved in restoration in the John Day Basin for many years.
- The ISRP Habitat Retrospective Report (ISRP 2025-2) assessed eight restoration methods and concluded that: “removing barriers to restore connectivity and reconnecting side channels, including the estuary, have a strong likelihood of positive benefits for anadromous salmonids.”
See the full ISRP review memorandum for details.
