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English: The South Fork John Day Watershed Restoration project is a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project focused on upland improvement in the South Fork John Day Watershed. The project addresses multiple resource concerns to include source water depletion, degraded plant conditions, livestock production limitations, concentrated erosion and terrestrial habitat. In May 2022, Hannah Smith, NRCS District Conservationist in Baker City (previously Soil Conservationist in John Day), Amy Stiner, South Fork John Day Watershed Council Coordinator, and Hannah Latzo, South Fork John Day Watershed Council Program Assistant, visited several properties enrolled in the restoration project.

Landowners within the project boundary work with NRCS, the South Fork John Day Watershed Council and other partners to implement conservation practices that address these resource concerns. Landowners remove junipers to conserve water and improve native perennial grasses, shrubs and forbs. Stock water developments encourage cows away from riparian areas and better utilize the pasture, improving the health of the rangeland. Forest thinning practices promote desirable tree species, reduce stocking densities and reduce fuel loads in the area. This project not only has positive impacts for the landowners in the area but also supports wildlife species, such as Mule Deer, and provides positive benefits down river for anadromous fish.

Project partners include South Fork John Day Watershed private landowners, NRCS Oregon, South Fork John Day Watershed Council, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Grant SWCD Weed Management, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Oregon Department of Forestry.