Mount Nebo is a mountain in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, 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 territori ...

. Named after the biblical Mount Nebo overlooking

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, which is said to be the place of Moses' death. It is the centerpiece of the Imnaha Divide, inside the

Wallowa–Whitman National Forest The Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is a United States National Forest in the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Formed upon the merger of the Wallowa and Whitman national forests in 1954, it is located in the northeastern corner of the state, in ...

.Nebo, Mount OR
listofjohn.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021. Mount Nebo is one of the important areas where sheep and cattle graze throughout Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Location

Mount Nebo is located in the northern ridge of the Imnaha Divide, approximately 2 miles North of the confluence of the north and south forks of the

Imnaha River The Imnaha River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Flowing generally east near the headwaters a ...

. The slopes and meadows that surround Mount Nebo reach towards the Tenderfoot Wagon Road and Mine south of McCully Basin.

Ecology

Mount Nebo has an open grassy south-facing slope. It was a target of a significant fire in the early 1900s. Since then, mountain big sagebrush has invaded most of the open grassy slope. Stands of

subalpine fir ''Abies lasiocarpa'', the subalpine fir or Rocky Mountain fir, is a western North American fir tree. Description ''Abies lasiocarpa'' is a medium-sized evergreen conifer with a very narrow conic crown, growing to tall, exceptionally , with a t ...

mixed with

Engelmann spruce ''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-altitude mountain tree but also appears in watered canyon ...

, scattered

lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

and small pockets of

whitebark pine ''Pinus albicaulis'', known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine ...

near the summit are the most notorious trees on the mountain and its surrounding ridges.

Lookout tower

Several fire lookout towers were built in the early 1900s throughout the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest. Mount Nebo had a lookout tower and 10x10 cabin built in the 1920s. Maintenance and cabin occupation was reported through the 1950s. The tower and the cabin were removed in the 1970s.

References

Mountains of Wallowa County, Oregon Mountains of Oregon Wallowa–Whitman National Forest {{US-mountain-stub