Western Rivers Conservancy has taken the exciting first steps toward creating the largest State Park in Oregon along the lower John Day River, in partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

In September 2009, Western Rivers Conservancy conveyed the first 2,403-acre portion of the Murtha Ranch to Oregon Parks and Recreation, which plans to acquire the remaining 5,711 deeded acres over the next three years.

The new park will ultimately conserve both banks along 16 miles of the John Day River – the longest free-flowing river west of the Continental Divide – and offer extraordinary recreation on the river and in the surrounding canyon. Western Rivers Conservancy purchased the 8,114-acre Murtha Ranch, together with its 8,000-acre Bureau of Land Management grazing lease, in September 2008.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski hailed the project as a significant conservation opportunity. “This is a rare opportunity to create a park that will aim to preserve and enhance the quality of the John Day River, the salmon runs it supports and the surrounding landscape,” Kulongoski said. Improving habitat along this stretch will benefit the John Day’s runs of wild summer steelhead, the strongest in the entire Columbia basin, as well as fall and spring Chinook and bull trout.

The project will also conserve the lower three miles of Hay Creek, a rare John Day tributary that runs cold year-round, ideal for summer steelhead.

The Murtha Ranch has some of the best native grassland and sagebrush shrub-steppe habitat remaining on the Columbia Plateau. Western Rivers Conservancy has begun an aggressive restoration program to eradicate noxious weeds, restore native plant communities and protect sensitive riparian areas. Taking these steps will help heal the landscape in preparation for the the new State Park’s grand opening slated for 2013. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is also an important partner in the restoration of the land.

Conservation of the Murtha Ranch fills a 16-mile gap in a 148-mile-long protected reach within the lower John Day Wild and Scenic River Corridor.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to secure the health of this important stretch of the John Day while creating a public recreational treasure for future generations.

Above: The Murtha Ranch on the Lower John Day River. Photo byGary Braasch