Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) continues to be one of the main agencies in the implementation of watershed enhancement and restoration projects focused on improving riparian habitat and overall watershed health within Wheeler County. Working in close partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) the district has the ability to develop and implement scientifically sound and economically feasible resource management plans for private landowners at the local level.

The project will implement riparian buffer systems to address limiting factors identified in the John Day Sub-basin Summary (John Day Subbasin Plan by Northwest Power and Conservation Council) for areas of the Lower John Day River Sub-basin within Wheeler County. This project will provide the technical planning support needed to implement five new riparian buffer contracts, and four renewed contracts (on anadromous fish streams) on approximately 280 acres covering an estimated 12-18 miles of streams as a one-year goal. One full time employee will be dedicated to the outreach and promotion of state and federal riparian programs in addition to the technical planning support needed to implement the nine riparian buffer agreements in the next contract year. Buffers widths will average 60 feet on each side of the qualifying streams but may also vary in width from 35 to 180 feet. Actual implementation costs, lease payments and maintenance costs will be borne by existing USDA programs: Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP) and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Program leases will be for 10-15 year periods. Implementation practices will include fencing, plantings, off stream water systems and other related practices necessary to ensure restoration and enhancement of the riparian area. Other funding sources, such as Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), will also be used as needed based on availability. This program meets a critical need in developing plans to address riparian health for the Lower John Day River Sub-basin.

This project fills a critical staffing need to conduct assessments and develop plans to address the growing backlog of potential CREP projects. Without this position, Wheeler County landowners are required to travel out of county to either the NRCS office or the Farm Services Agency (FSA) to pursue the CREP/CCRP potential on their land. This results in a lack of participation in the available programs that help to enhance aquatic and riparian habitat.  Both agencies have a backlog of other duties creating another barrier to the implementation of CREP in Wheeler County. Plans developed by the Riparian Buffer Technician are used for federal contracts to implement riparian buffers. The SWCD uses the USDA NRCS "Nine Step" planning process to develop these plans: 1) identify opportunities and potential problems, 2) determine objectives, 3) inventory resources, 4) analyze resource inventory, 5) formulate alternatives, 6) evaluate alternatives, 7) decision - select alternative, 8) implement the plan, 9) evaluate the plan (monitor).

Notes:
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) are not required in this project:
Actual O&M is a funded item in the CCRP/CREP contract whereby the landowner receives an additional payment to cover maintenance costs. The landowner is responsible under the contract for maintenance. O&M is funded by the USDA.

Technical review and recommendation is included as a cost item. This is accomplished through visual inspections, and repeated assessments.  Additionally, records of stream miles, acreage and number of plans completed will be tracked for reporting purposes.

FSA has fiscal and administrative responsibility for managing CREP contracts to ensure contract terms are being met. NRCS has responsibility for technical supervision of all installed practices. NRCS delegates authority to the SWCD to provide this technical supervision as long as the SWCD adheres to NRCS standards and specifications. Through this delegation, SWCD technicians will use the NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (provided by NRCS) as the principal monitoring and evaluation tool to evaluate and describe both pre- and post- CREP project conditions.