The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWSRO) will develop and execute the Deschutes River Restoration Program (DRRP).  This program will focus on projects aimed at improving instream habitat along with holistic watershed restoration directed at factors limiting salmonid production.  Projects will occur mostly on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, but the Program may choose to partner on priority projects off the Reservation within the Deschutes basin.    

Projects will target four limiting factors including habitat complexity and quantity, fine sediment, water temperature, and altered hydrology.  These projects will be tiered to the Deschutes River Subbasin Plan, and the Mid-Columbia Steelhead Recovery Plan.  All of the projects will focus on the Tribes goal of sustaining harvestable levels of fish for many generations.  The limiting factors were developed using guidance from the NOAA Fisheries Mid-Columbia Steelhead Recovery Plan and the Deschutes Basin Subbasin Plan and were linked with biological monitoring and production data collected by Tribal Fisheries staff on the Reservation.

Instream and watershed restoration projects are important in this portion of the Deschutes basin for several reasons.  The 660,000 acre Warm Springs Indian Reservation provides critical habitat for wild populations of spring Chinook salmon, Mid-Columbia summer steelhead, bull trout, redband trout, Pacific lamprey, and a variety of other native non-salmonid species.  Protection and maintenance of these populations is important to Tribal culture and future harvest opportunities.  The new regulatory license agreement for the Pelton-Round Butte Hydroelectric Complex (~river mile 100) requires the co-owners to reintroduce salmon and steelhead into the upper Deschutes basin.  The populations downstream of the hydro complex on the Reservation will provide the donor stock for rebuilding the populations upstream.  Healthy watersheds with properly functioning rivers and streams create and maintain complex habitats that support viable runs of anadromous fish which can provide donor stock to rebuild fish runs.    

The DRRP will use funding from the recent Memorandum of Agreement between the Tribes and the Bonneville Power Administration matched with funding from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Pelton-Round Butte Fund, and other competitive sources.  Additionally, the program will have access to restoration funding received through the American Transport Inc. 1999 gasoline spill settlement fund.  It is anticipated that over the next ten years (2008-2018) this restoration funding in total will exceed $6 million dollars.

Projects will be planned by Tribal staff from the Fish Habitat Program, designed by the NRCS or other technical assistance providers, and implemented by both Tribal and non-tribal contractors.  All projects will pass through the Tribe’s Integrated Resource Management Planning process and complete the required Endangered Species Act consultation.