Steens Mountain Wilderness

Steens Mountain Wilderness
IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area)
Steens Mountain wildflowers
Location	Harney County, Oregon, USA
Nearest city	Frenchglen, Oregon
Coordinates	42°40′00″N 118°45′04″W / 42.6665536°N 118.7510263°W / 42.6665536; -118.7510263Coordinates: 42°40′00″N 118°45′04″W / 42.6665536°N 118.7510263°W / 42.6665536; -118.7510263[1]
Area	170,166 acres (68,864 ha) [2]
Established	October 30, 2000
Governing body	Bureau of Land Management

View from the top of Steens Mountain, looking out to Alvord Desert

Steens Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area surrounding a portion of Steens Mountain of southeastern Oregon, U.S. The reserve falls within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (CMPA). Both the reserve and the CMPA are administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The wilderness area encompasses 170,166 acres (68,864 ha) of the CMPA's total 428,156 acres (173,269 ha).^[3] 98,859 acres (40,007 ha) of the Wilderness are protected from grazing and free of cattle.^[4]

Topography

Steens Mountain Wilderness ranges in elevation from 4,200 to 9,733 feet (1,300 to 2,967 m) at the summit of Steens Mountain. The reserve features a variety of vegetative zones, from the Arid Sagebrush Zone in the Alvord Desert, through the Western Juniper, Mountain Mahogany, Mountain Big Sagebrush, Quaking Aspen, Subalpine Meadow, and Subalpine Grassland Zones, to the Snow Cover Zone.^[5]

Steens Mountain is the largest fault-block mountain in North America. Pressure under the Earth's surface thrust the block upward approximately 20 million years ago, resulting in a steep eastern face with a more gentle slope on the western side of the mountain. During the Ice Age, glaciers carved several deep gorges into the peak and created depressions where Lily, Fish, and Wildhorse lakes now stand.^[5]

Flora

Flora in Steens Mountain Wilderness varies greatly according to elevation. Common plants include sagebrush, juniper, various species of bunchgrass, mountain mahogany, aspen, mountain meadow knotweed, and false hellebore.^[5] Other vegetation that is endemic to Steens Mountain include Steens paintbrush (Castilleja pilosa var. steenensis), moss gentian (Gentiana fremontii), Steens Mountain penstemon (Penstemon davidsonii var. praeteritus), Steens Mountain Thistle (Cirsium peckii), a dwarf blue lupine, and Cusick's buckwheat (Eriogonum cusickii).^[6][7]

Fauna

Redband Trout.

Steens Mountain is home to a variety of wildlife, including bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, and the threatened redband trout. Cattle can be found in the Wilderness as well, though they are excluded from grazing 98,859 acres (40,007 ha) on top of Steens Mountain.^[3][5]

See also

• List of Oregon Wildernesses
• List of U.S. Wilderness Areas
• Wilderness Act
• Donner und Blitzen River

References

1. ^ "Steens Mountain Wilderness". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1132757. Retrieved 2011-08-21. 
2. ^ "Wilderness Acreage Breakdown for The Steens Mountain Wilderness". Wilderness.net. http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=acreage&WID=576. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Steens Mountain". Bureau of Land Management. http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/recreation/steens-mtn.php. 
4. ^ "Steens Mountain Wilderness". Wilderness.net. http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Steens%20Mountain. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "Steens Mountain Wilderness, Oregon". GORP. http://www.gorp.com/weekend-guide/travel-ta-burns-oregon-sidwcmdev_069285.html. 
6. ^ Sullivan, William L. (2002). Thurman, Paula. ed. Exploring Oregon's Wild Areas (3rd ed.). The Mountaineers Books. ISBN 978-0-89886-793-0. 
7. ^ St. John, Alan D. (2007). Oregon's Dry Side: Exploring East of the Cascade Crest. Timber Press. ISBN 978-0-88192-829-7. 

External links

• Ekker, TinaMarie. "Stumbling at Steens Mountain". Wilderness Watch. Archived from the original on Aug 05, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070805044600/http://wildernesswatch.org/hot+topics/issue+updates/steens.html. 
• "Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000". United States Government Printing Office. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_bills&docid=f:h4828enr.txt.pdf. 
• "Steens Mountain". Oregon Natural Desert Association. http://www.onda.org/defending-desert-wilderness/steens-mountain-wilderness. 
• "Steens Mountain photo gallery". Flickr.com. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkneen/tags/steensmountain/. 
• "Steens Mountain Wilderness photos". Wilderness.net. http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=WildView&WID=576&tab=Images. 
• "Steens Mountain Wilderness, Oregon". GORP. http://www.gorp.com/weekend-guide/travel-ta-burns-oregon-sidwcmdev_069285.html.