The John Day Basin Partnership (JDBP) Post-Fire Planning project is located in the John Day Basin Watershed (JDB) specifically focused within the major fire scars of the 2024 season: Shoe Fly, Fossil Complex, Lonerock, Battle Mountain Complex, Courtrock, and Rail Ridge fires. The impacted area includes Gilliam, Morrow, Umatilla, Wheeler, Crook, and Grant Counties.
The 2024 fire season affected ~603,000 acres in the JDB, with ~265,000 acres occurring on private lands. Fire related watershed impacts for privately held lands are extensive and complex with a wide range of fire severity. Federal, state and local agencies are evaluating watershed impacts across the area, creating a complex set of recovery tools, independent recovery plans, and disconnected recovery pathways. A collated and cohesive "ridge-to-ridge" recovery plan is needed to guide implementers in the JDB through a path that will ensure restoration projects are conducted with the correct phasing, are not duplicative of other planned restoration activities, and are supported by the best science to lead to desired outcomes across the landscape.
The project’s objectives are to (1) Convene and coordinate a working group made up of local, state, tribal and federal resource managers, (2) through a series of working group meetings create a GIS based fire recovery prioritization and toolkit (3) provide capacity funding for SWCD’s and Watershed Council’s to conduct fire specific landowner outreach (4) Update the JDBP Uplands Prioritization framework (5) pilot a virtual fencing program within the Lonerock fire area.
Partners include local SWCDs (Grant, Gilliam, Wheeler, Morrow, Umatilla, Crook and Monument), Watershed Councils (Mid JD, North Fork JD, South Fork JD), Tribes (CTWS and CTUIR), state agencies & funders (ODF, OSU, ODFW, OWEB), federal agencies (NRCS, FSA), and contractors.
