The 2024 wildfire season burned 603,000 total acres across the John Day Basin with 265,000 of those acres on
privately held lands.

The six major named fires responsible for the wildfire affects were the Shoe Fly, Fossil Complex, Lonerock, Battle Mountain Complex, Courtrock, and Rail Ridge fires; a total of 42 fires burned in the 2024 season within the John Day Basin. Changes to upland and aquatic habitat condition are extensive, varied, and complex. The local agricultural industry, predominately cattle, and the associated infrastructure play an important and integrated role in protecting natural resources. Large areas utilized by cattle grazing have damaged or destroyed infrastructure. 

Five Watershed Councils, seven Soil and Water Conservation Districts and two tribes had wildfire related impacts within their respective geographies on private land. Initial responses to the 2024 wildfires were carried out at the individual organizational scale, including coordination with state and federal responders, and creating linkages between local private landowners to resources. The long-term restoration response is complex.

Maintaining the JDBP’s strategic approach to restoration, a guiding set of information, prioritized in nature, was identified as a need to respond to the wildfire affects in a way phased for the best outcomes, and is coordinated to avoid a duplication of efforts with other state and federal agencies and among each other. The overarching goal of this project is to carry out restoration practices that are appropriate for the ecotype that was affected (forest, grassland, riparian, aquatic), and in a way that acknowledges the greater frequency of these types of events in the future (climate resilience).

The Umatilla SWCD is looking for landowners who are interested in assistance with the following projects:

• Replanting
• Fencing Restoration
• Erosion Slope Control
• Riparian Vegetation Planting
• And more

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please fill out the information below in full to get in contact with Kyle Waggoner, Umatilla SWCD's District Manager.