River Styles of the Middle Fork John Day River, eastern Oregon, USA

The Middle Fork John Day River (MFJDR) in eastern Oregon is an Intensively Monitored Watershed and is part of habitat status and trend monitoring through the Columbia Habitat and Monitoring Program (CHaMP). The Middle Fork John Day Watershed (MFJDW) supports Chinook salmon and steelhead, and numerous river restoration projects have been undertaken in the watershed to improve channel and riparian habitat. 

The MFJDW was the focus of a complete geomorphic assessment using the River Styles framework®. The River Styles framework employs a hierarchical scheme of river assessment that is “nested” on the scale of regional, watershed, river reach, geomorphic unit, and habitat or hydraulic unit features. This approach also encompasses the ecological setting at every scale of analysis. The River Styles framework includes four stages that build one upon the next, and and culminate in what can be used as a template for a strategic river management plan. 

We present three datasets representing Stages 1-3 of the River Styles framework as watershed-scale maps in the context of of the NHD (version 1, cartographic) streamline network. 

The first dataset shows River Styles throughout the Middle Fork John Day Watershed defined for ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams. River styles are an expression of the stream character (i.e., form) and behavior (i.e, function).