This agreement, under the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Restoration Partnership in the John Day River Basin project, supports the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Region 6 (USFS) 2022 Memorandum of Understanding (see project documents) to address common, strategic interest in supporting the recovery of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.  The John Day River is the 4th longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States, providing habitat for Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, and lamprey.  USFS has identified priority habitat actions on National Forest lands in the upper reaches of the basin that include fish passage, stream complexity, floodplain reconnection, and riparian enhancement in targeted, priority watersheds.  In addition, BPA and project partners, have identified high priority passage and habitat actions within the upper John Day watersheds utilizing BPA’s Atlas Prioritization Framework.  Given that USFS lands comprise 30% of the river basin on which ~50% of the streamflow originates, including the coldest waters, this agreement will further support BPA mitigation efforts in the basin, much of which is currently focused on private land.  BPA will continue to support other third-party projects and programs (e.g. Tribes, non-governmental organizations) separate from this relationship.

BPA and the USFS agree to apply resources to support design and construction of prioritized fish passage barriers and floodplain reconnection projects across three National Forests (Malheur, Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman) in the John Day Basin during a pilot plan. During the initial agreement, BPA will provide $10 million in funding, approximately $2 million per fiscal year, over a 5-year period.  Extension of the agreement will be informed by USFS reporting and BPA assessment of accomplishments during the pilot including: timely delivery of on the ground work, cost per metric delivered, and relevance of steelhead habitat delivered or evidence of species response.  This agreement is implementation focused and does not provide research, monitoring, or evaluation funding as these efforts shall be funded by the USFS or coordinated with other BPA funded monitoring projects in the basin.

Under this agreement the USFS will design and implement highest priority habitat actions on USFS lands that support BPA’s mitigation obligation under the FCRPS BiOp for ESA listed Middle Columbia River steelhead.  Only the highest priority actions shall be proposed for BPA funding.  Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) actions shall deliver the highest habitat value for steelhead limiting lifestages.  AOP funding request shall include an assessment of barrier type and duration and associated steelhead limiting lifestages impacted and metrics produced (e.g. miles of quality cold water steelhead summer rearing habitat made accessible in temperature limited areas).  AOP projects that do not change passage status for a steelhead limiting lifestage, are outside of the steelhead habitat range, or provide minimal benefit for steelhead will not be funded under this agreement.  Habitat actions shall be prioritize acres of floodplain reconnected and miles of instream complexity produced and target steelhead limiting lifestages.  Proposed projects must be high priority opportunities, within Tier 1 watersheds, and address all relevant habitat actions identified in the Atlas Prioritization Framework.  To assure deliverables are aligned with BPA priorities the BPA Habitat Area Lead and a technical designate (as needed) shall be included in AOP planning and habitat design development.  AOP projects shall be designed according to USFS Engineering policy and criteria with final technical documents (plans, specifications, construction contracting packages) submitted to BPA.  For projects that do not involve substantial involvement of other BPA funded project partners, such as AOP projects, USFS shall be the lead entity and complete all necessary environmental clearances under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Aquatic Restoration Biological Opinion (ARBO), National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For habitat projects lead entity designations will be determined on a case by case basis and BPA Habitat Area Lead and a technical designate (as needed) shall be included on project interdisciplinary teams (IDT) and review and approve conceptual designs, 30%, and 60% design iterations prior to design advancement.

Work implemented though this federal-to-federal partnership will be consistent with the Northwest Power Conservation Council’s John Day Sub-Basin Plan.  Much of the work to be addressed within this effort is targeted within the North Fork and Middle Fork of the John Day River.  The Sub-basin plan identifies these watersheds as some of the most productive area of the John Day for both Chinook and ESA Listed Steelhead and timely action is necessary, if fish objectives are to be met.  The Pacific Northwest Aquatic Restoration Partnership in the John Day River Basin agreement has not yet undergone Northwest Power Conservation Council Fish and Wildlife Program review.  While the work is within BPA’s authority under the FCRPS BiOp obligations it is recognized the Council may request a review and additional conditions of approval.

Contract Scope and Deliverables:
This contact will produce designs for 12 AOP passage projects on Umatilla and Malheur National Forest Lands.  Designs will be developed by a subcontractor selected through a competitive bid solicitation process associated with the USDA Forst Servies Regional Blanket Purchasing authority.  Design costs were estimated based on past design costs for similar projects. The contract value will be adjusted based on the bids received and the actual design costs.  The designs will address 12 partial fish barriers for federally threatened Middle Columbia River Summer Steelhead resulting in 21.52 miles of suitable habitat, identified as critical habitat, being made accessible to steelhead upon implementation which will be included in a future agreement under this project.  All of the passage improvement metrics presented in this contract are within federally recognized critical habitat for ESA listed Middle Columbia River steelhead. These passage projects have been determined to be the high priority for steelhead passage resolution as identified in USFS Regional Fish Passage Barrier database and were then reviewed against the Atlas Prioritization Framework for the John Day Basin to ensure there were all with in Teir 1 subwatersheds. The prioritization process also includes using the structured fish passage decision making tool OptiPass.  This program integrates information on barrier passability (upstream and or downstream), mitigation cost, and potential river habitat gain for one or more target species in order to identify cost-efficient passage improvement strategies.  Critically, OptiPass employs state-of-the-art optimization modeling and solution techniques, explicitly taking into consideration the spatial structure of barriers and the interactive effects of passage improvement on longitudinal connectivity.