"It was moving day last Thursday on the Middle Fork John Day River – not for human residents but for some 8,800 aquatic denizens, from threatened steelhead fish to spotted frogs.

About 100 people turned out to help net and transfer the creatures out of the north channel, a slow course cut through tailing fields left by mining in the 1930s and ’40s. The fishes’ new digs are in the river’s undredged south channel and a newly engineered stretch of Granite Boulder Creek, a key tributary.

Last week’s fish salvage operation was a critical step in a major effort to restore the fish and wildlife habitat of the Middle Fork as it traverses ranchland owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation. The property is northeast of Prairie City, in Grant County.

“The Tribes, with the help of many partners, have been working towards addressing the effects of dredging since they acquired the 1,022-acre Oxbow Conservation Area in 2001,” said Brian Cochran, restoration ecologist for the Tribes."

Get the Story:
Moving Day On The Middle Fork (Oregon Public Broadcasting 8/1)