Birch Creek is a tributary of the
Umatilla River in
eastern Oregon in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
It rises at the confluence of East and West Birch creeks south of
Pilot Rock, Oregon, at the base of the
Blue Mountains and flows north, slightly west of the city of
Pendleton Pendleton may refer to:
Places
;United Kingdom
*Pendleton, Lancashire, England
*Pendleton, Greater Manchester, England
;United States
*Pendleton, Indiana
* Pendleton, Missouri
*Pendleton, New York
*Pendleton, Oregon
*Pendleton, South Carolina
*Pe ...
. It enters the Umatilla River about from the larger stream's confluence with the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
.
Birch Creek is one of the rivers that drain Oregon's northwestern corner of the Blue Mountains, flowing alongside
industrial waste ponds, and over two minor
impoundments before reaching the Umatilla River. Lands in the Birch Creek
drainage are used for
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
,
grazing
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
,
dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...
farming, and
factory farming
Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...
. Birch Creek is a source of
phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
s and the resulting
eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...
of the Umatilla River.
Pendleton photographer
Walter S. Bowman
Walter Scott Bowman (February 8, 1865 – November 27, 1938) was a prominent professional photographer in Pendleton, Oregon. His work is included in the University of Oregon'shttp://library.uoregon.edu/speccoll/photo/Pendleton/fbowman.html Bo ...
is believed to have been born by Birch Creek.
See also
*
List of rivers of Oregon
References
External links
Umatilla Basin Watershed Council
{{authority control
Rivers of Oregon
Rivers of Umatilla County, Oregon