The Steens Mountain Wilderness is a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

surrounding a portion of

Steens Mountain Steens Mountain is in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a large fault-block mountain. Located in Harney County, it stretches some north to south, and rises from the west side the Alvord Desert at elevation of about t ...

of southeastern

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 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 of the CMPA's total . of the Wilderness are protected from

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 ...

and free of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

Topography

The Steens Mountain Wilderness ranges in elevation from at the summit of

. The reserve features a variety of vegetative zones, from the arid sagebrush zone in the

Alvord Desert The Alvord Desert is a desert located in Harney County, in southeastern Oregon in the Western United States. It is roughly southeast of Steens Mountain. The Alvord Desert is a dry lake bed and averages of rain a year. Two mountain ranges ...

, through the

western juniper ''Juniperus occidentalis'', known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the Western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of and rarely down to . It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a wides ...

mountain mahogany ''Cercocarpus'', commonly known as mountain mahogany, is a small genus of at least nine species of nitrogen-fixing flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native to the western United States and northern Mexico, where they grow ...

, mountain big sagebrush,

quaking aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, tr ...

, subalpine meadow, and subalpine grassland, to the snow cover zone. Steens Mountain is the largest

fault-block mountain Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

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 An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s carved several deep gorges into the peak and created depressions where Lily, Fish, and Wildhorse lakes now stand.

Flora

Vegetation in the Steens Mountain Wilderness varies greatly according to elevation. Common plants include

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

, juniper, various species of

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perenni ...

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

mountain meadow knotweed ''Bistorta bistortoides'' (American bistort, western bistort, smokeweed, mountain meadow knotweed, mountain buckwheat or mountain meadow buckwheat) is a perennial herb in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. The species name remains un ...

, and false hellebore. Other vegetation endemic to Steens Mountain includes Steens paintbrush (''

Castilleja pilosa ''Castilleja pilosa'' is a species of Indian paintbrush known by the common name parrothead Indian paintbrush. It is native to the western United States from California to Wyoming, where it grows in mountain and plateau habitat across the Great ...

var. steenensis''), moss gentian (''

Gentiana fremontii ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their most ...

''), Steens Mountain penstemon (''

Penstemon davidsonii ''Penstemon davidsonii'' is a species of penstemon known by the common name Davidson's penstemon, honoring Dr. George Davidson. It is native to North America from the Sierra Nevada Range in California and Nevada through the Coast and Cascade r ...

var. praeteritus''), Steens Mountain thistle (''

Cirsium peckii ''Cirsium peckii'', the Steens Mountain thistle, is a very spiny and prickly perennial plant in the family Asteraceae that grows in the Great Basin of the western United States.Great Basin Wildflowers, Laird R. Blackwell, 2006, Morris Book Publ ...

''), a dwarf blue lupine, and Cusick's buckwheat (''

Eriogonum cusickii ''Eriogonum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing. It in ...

'').

Fauna

Steens Mountain is home to a variety of wildlife, including

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

Rocky Mountain elk The Rocky Mountain elk (''Cervus canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of elk found in the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of Western North America. Habitat The winter ranges are most common in open forests and floodplain marshes in the l ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

sage grouse Sage-grouse are grouse belonging to the bird genus ''Centrocercus.'' The genus includes two species: the Gunnison grouse (''Centrocercus minimus'') and the greater sage-grouse (''Centrocercus urophasianus''). These birds are distributed throug ...

, and the

Great Basin redband trout The Great Basin redband trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii'') is one of three redband trout subspecies of the rainbow trout in the western United States. The Great Basin redband trout is native to drainages in south central Oregon east of t ...

. Cattle can be found in the wilderness as well, though they are excluded from grazing on top of Steens Mountain. Coyote are also known to the area.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Steens Mountain Wilderness Area
- BLM page {{Protected areas of Oregon Wilderness areas of Oregon Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas in Oregon Protected areas of Harney County, Oregon 2000 establishments in Oregon Protected areas established in 2000

Topography

Flora

Fauna

See also

References

External links