The Agate Desert is a prairie located near White City, Oregon, of which is protected as the Agate Desert Preserve. The area is not in fact a

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

as its name suggests; it is so named because of the abundance of agate, petrified wood,

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

, and other minerals found there. Much of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

army training base of

Camp White Camp White was an Army training base located in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, during World War II. It was also the site of a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. The camp was named in honor of George A. White, who served as adjutant general for O ...

was built in the Agate Desert.

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

is working to preserve the Agate Desert as a native

Rogue River Valley The Rogue Valley is a valley region in southwestern Oregon in the United States. Located along the middle Rogue River and its tributaries in Josephine and Jackson counties, the valley forms the cultural and economic heart of Southern Oregon nea ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

Ecosystem

The area contains seasonal vernal pools that act as their own self-sufficient ecosystems. When the pools have dried up in the late spring, rings of wildflowers bloom in their place and the various plants and animals enter a period of dormancy until the next spring. The pools contain a rare species of fairy shrimp. The Agate Desert is also the only known place where the endangered big-flowered woolly meadowfoam plants grow and the desert contains over 500 of the plants. Cook's lomatium or Cook's Desert Parsley is also found in the Agate Desert and only grows naturally elsewhere in the French Flat of Illinois Valley, also in Oregon. In 1998, Henri Dumont discovered a new species, Dumontia oregonensis, also known as the Hairy Water Flea, in the desert, and it is not known to live anywhere else.

Preservation

Ecologists are currently conducting prescribed burns to the area, and volunteers are then spreading seeds of the native grasses and wildflowers in order to restore them to the area. Ecologists are also studying the various species, many of them rare, in the vernal pools. Development in the valley has left it at only about 25% of its original size.

References

External links

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Agate Desert Lomatium (Agate Desert Parsley)
{{coord, 42.42917, -122.89722, type:landmark_region:US-OR, display=title Grasslands of Oregon White City, Oregon Geography of Jackson County, Oregon Protected areas of Jackson County, Oregon Nature Conservancy preserves