John Redding
(208) 378-5212
Mark Croghan
(541) 575-3033
TDD: 711

Reclamation Hires Sub-basin Liaison for John Day River Basin

The Bureau of Reclamation has hired a full-time sub-basin liaison to manage a mitigation program for fish habitat, including efforts aimed at removing instream barriers to migrating fish in the area around John Day, Oregon.

Mark Croghan will work with local landowners and groups to provide assistance in removing instream barriers to salmon and steelhead migration. Other fish habitat improvement projects include installing or modifying fish screens, and improving stream flows by way of water acquisition.

Reclamation projects will be in cooperation with local agencies and entities such as the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Oregon Water Resources Department. All Reclamation activities in the basin will depend strictly on voluntary participation by local landowners.

Croghan will coordinate Reclamation activities in the John Day River Basin under the Biological Opinion issued in December 2000 by the National Marine Fisheries Service on the Federal Columbia River Power System.

He is a graduate of Oregon State University and a native of northeastern Oregon. He has worked for Reclamation for 12 years, most recently as a hydraulic engineer in Reclamation’s Snake River Area Office in southeastern Idaho. His wife and three children are looking forward to making John Day their home and finding time to enjoy the abundant recreational opportunities in the area.

Reclamation initiated this work last year by starting work in four subbasins, hiring liaisons who are stationed in the subbasins to coordinate efforts, and by initiating programmatic NEPA compliance and ESA consultation efforts.

For further information, contact Mark at (541) 575-3033 or he will be located in the Forest Service building, Bureau of Reclamation, PO Box 909, 431 Patterson Bridge Road, John Day OR 97845.