Mount Pisgah is a hill in Lane County,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

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 ...

, rising above the surrounding

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

to a maximum elevation of . It was named after the biblical Mount Pisgah. It is situated between the Coast Fork and Middle Fork of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

, two miles (3 km) southeast of their confluence.

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

is immediately north of Mount Pisgah, and the city of Eugene is a few miles west. It is the site of the 2363-acre (956 hectare) Howard Buford Recreation Area as well as the non-profit

Mount Pisgah Arboretum The Mount Pisgah Arboretum (85 ha / 209 acres) is a non-profit arboretum and botanical garden located within the Howard Buford Recreation Area (930 ha / 2,300 acre), between the Coast Fork of the Willamette River and the slopes of Mount Pisgah nea ...

at its base.

Recreation

Several hiking trails are maintained by the Lane County Parks Department on Mount Pisgah. The summit is accessible by a steep trail from a parking area near the base of the hill. Several other trails make their way through the adjacent arboretum and up the slopes. The summit offers a panoramic view of the southern Willamette Valley and includes a bronze relief sculpture (a memorial for

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

's son Jed) illustrating the surrounding topography and identifying many nearby geographic features.

Arboretum

The

covers at the base of Mount Pisgah and offers visitors of trails through natural riverside habitat and hundreds of cataloged plant species. As of May 2020, admission is $5 per car and permits can be purchased at a self-service pay station, card only.

Geology

The hill consists of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

or its intrusive equivalent

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-graine ...

. Small crystals of calcite and various

zeolite Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ･y where is either a metal ion or H+. These pos ...

minerals are often seen where the rock outcrops, especially near the summit. Specific minerals found in the area include

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

heulandite Heulandite is the name of a series of tecto-silicate minerals of the zeolite group. Prior to 1997, heulandite was recognized as a mineral species, but a reclassification in 1997 by the International Mineralogical Association changed it to a ser ...

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> ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures ...

mesolite Mesolite is a tectosilicate mineral with formula Na2 Ca2( Al2 Si3 O10)3·8 H2O. It is a member of the zeolite group and is closely related to natrolite which it also resembles in appearance. Mesolite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and t ...

, and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

Controversy

Wildish Land Company owns of undisturbed land adjacent to the park and has filed an Oregon

Measure 37 Oregon Ballot Measure 37 was a controversial land-use ballot initiative that passed in the U.S. state of Oregon in 2004 and is now codified as Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 195.305. Measure 37 has figured prominently in debates about the rights of ...

claim. The claim seeks either compensation of $15 million for diminution in land value caused by state and county land use regulations enacted since Wildish acquired the property, or in the alternative, a waiver of offending land use regulations enacted since its acquisition. The land is zoned for gravel production with an estimated value, under current zoning, at around $5 million. As an alternative to development or compensation, some have suggested the controversy represents a historic opportunity to purchase the land, integrate it with the existing park, and eventually link the expanded Howard Buford Recreation Area with other undeveloped land as part of a greater Eugene greenway. On December 6, 2006, Lane County approved Wildish's Measure 37 claim, waiving non-exempt offending regulations enacted since Wildish acquired the property. The

Oregon Department of Administrative Services The Department of Administrative Services is the agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon which is chiefly responsible, through its nine divisions, for administering all of the programs of the Governor and the executive branch, as well ...

has not yet ruled on Wildish's state application. Before any development may happen, Wildish must still receive a waiver from the state, and it must still submit a development application to the county.

References

External links

Lane County government article about the locationUSGS 1:24000 Topographic MapsOpinion in Eugene ''Register-Guard''

Friends of Buford Park & Mount Pisgah

Mt. Pisgah Arboretum
{{Authority control Landmarks in Oregon Hills of Oregon Landforms of Lane County, Oregon