On June 25th and 26th members and friends from Deschutes Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) tackled the long dirt roads of the Ochocos to explore the Deep Creek restoration area and the wild canyon of the North Fork of the Crooked River.  The North Fork of the Crooked watershed in ONF and the Bureau of Land Management is a wild and scenic section of river with 11.1 miles of the lower canyon designated as Wild.  As the canyon flattens out and turned into a wider floodplain and into the prairies, there are 9.5 designated as Scenic and 11.7 as Recreational  The ONF contains healthy populations of wild redband rainbow trout and is an important source of cold water; in a region with exposed warm stretches of streams and sections of degraded habitat.  This rugged area has a mix of scablands, lush green canyons, mixed ponderosa and tamarack forests, and lots to great small trout habitat. 
 

Our adventure started at the Deep Creek campground just upstream of the confluence of Deep Creek and the North Fork.  Our trip had 3 goals:  1.  Study the temperature in the lower Deep Creek system, from the confluence with the North Fork into upper Jackson and Crazy Creeks, 2.  Learn about management practices and riparian monitoring through multiple indicators, 3.  Explore conditions today and discuss restoration work with the Forest Service to reconnect habitat in the Deep Creek basin.  Our group was also excited to check out the amazing display of wildflowers, new sections for fishing, and enjoy one of our first nice weekends this summer.  Through 200 miles of twisting high desert roads, trails, and wild country, we traced the water from a trickle in mountain meadows to the pounding falls of the North Fork canyon.  Through green meadows, flowers, and glides, we discovered the Ochocos are pretty spectacular this year.
 

A new Watershed Initiative has emerged on the Upper Deschutes River

The Upper Deschutes Basin contains large river systems and long healthy tributaries to form 150 miles of headwaters and feeders to pour down the lower 100 miles through a large and scenic canyon.  The goal of the Upper Deschutes Home Rivers Initiative is to protect this dramatic and unique basin and restore strong populations of redband trout, steelhead, bull trout, sockeye and chinook salmon and other native and wild species within the upper Deschutes watershed.  With our local members and neighbors, we hope to sustain those populations through watershed restoration, education, and stewardship with our surrounding communities.  TU believes that people must have a powerful connection to the critical landscapes that support the Northwest’s ecosystems, and will make community engagement an emphasis of this Home Rivers Initiative.