| A bridge over wild and scenic waters |
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| A bridge over wild and scenic waters |
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ODOT's Kevin Cassidy rafts the North Fork John Day.
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High in the Elkhorn and Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon, the North Fork John Day River begins, like many rivers, as an unassuming trickle. By the time it reaches its confluence with Camas Creek, it has become a river important enough to receive a special designation and attention from the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Forest Service and ODOT.
In October 1968, alarmed that many American rivers were being damaged by development and pollution, Congress established the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to protect rivers with one or more “outstandingly remarkable values” that distinguish it from all others.
The North Fork John Day River was designated a wild and scenic river in 1988. Just south of Pendleton, the river runs under a bridge, and that is where ODOT’s stewardship of it begins.
To protect the river while replacing a bridge across it—part of a project to replace or repair eight bridges between Pendleton and Burns—ODOT needed to take into account the river’s scenic quality, recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, and rich historic and prehistoric significance.
Kevin Cassidy, team lead for the ODOT Procurement Office located in La Grande, has his own list of reasons he values the area. Cassidy takes frequent advantage of the pristine wilderness and challenging whitewater on the North Fork John Day River.
“What I enjoy is the limited access and unspoiled nature,” said Cassidy. “The river travels through canyons in a mixture of alpine timber and high desert and provides great paddling challenges and the opportunity to practice leave-no-trace camping.”
According to Cassidy, the North Fork John Day compares favorably with many larger and more well-known rivers in the Northwest, such as the Grande Ronde or the Salmon.
“The North Fork John Day has lots of the same characteristics and challenges as many of the Northwest’s most popular rivers, and logs and narrow chutes make it extra challenging,” he said.
Opportunities for hiking, rafting and fishing in and near the river make the area a popular year-round destination. The expanse of designated wilderness provides significant high-quality habitat for large animal species, and the river is home to the only remaining genetically viable wild run of spring Chinook salmon in the entire Columbia River Basin.
The new bridge will protect the river and its outstanding resources in many ways. Its thin profile will help it blend in to the surrounding landscape, and its unusually long 190-foot center span will keep all bridge support structures out of the water. The contractor will replant the area with a variety of species native to the region, a strategy that increases the likelihood they will survive and decreases the need for follow-up maintenance. Most importantly, the new bridge will treat storm-water runoff via a water-quality bioswale, which is designed to improve the quality of the water in the critical salmon habitat.
Whether fishing for red band trout, paddling the river or driving an 18-wheeler on U.S. 395, Oregonians in the region will benefit from the many improvements that come with the new bridge. ODOT and its federal partners are working hard to preserve and protect the area for all users by striking a balance between keeping Oregon moving and protecting natural areas for their remarkable values.
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