Blue Mountains (Pacific Northwest)
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Blue Mountains | |
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![]() Baker City, Oregon, with the Blue Mountains in the background, seen from the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center observatory | |
Highest point | |
Peak | Rock Creek Butte[1][2] |
Elevation | 9,106 ft (2,776 m) |
Coordinates | 44°49′00″N 118°06′13″W / 44.81667°N 118.10361°W[3] |
Dimensions | |
Area | 15,000 sq mi (39,000 km2) |
Geography | |
Country | United States |
States | Oregon, Washington |
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the northwestern United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into extreme southeastern Washington. The range has an area of about 15,000 square miles (39,000 km2), stretching east and southeast of Pendleton, Oregon, to the Snake River along the Oregon–Idaho border.[4]
The Blue Mountains cover ten counties across two states; they are Union, Umatilla, Grant, Baker, Wallowa and Harney counties in Oregon, and Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties in Washington.[5] The mountains are unique as the home of the world's largest living organism, a subterranean colonial mycelial mat of the fungus Armillaria ostoyae.[6] The Blue Mountains were named after the color of the mountains when seen from a distance and the blue hue imparted by the smoke of forest and range fires set by Indigenous people as management tools in the fall.[7]
Geology
The Blues are
History
Habitation by Native Americans
The river valleys and lower levels of the range were occupied by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Historic tribes of the region included the
During westward expansion of the United States
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Descending_the_Blue_Mountains.png/170px-Descending_the_Blue_Mountains.png)
In the mid-1800s, the Blue Mountains were a formidable obstacle to settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail and were often the last mountain range American pioneers had to cross before either reaching southeast Washington near Walla Walla or passing down the Columbia River Gorge to the end of the Oregon Trail in the Willamette Valley near Oregon City.
Modern travel
The range is currently traversed by
It is also crossed by the Union Pacific Railroad's mainline between Portland, Oregon, and Pocatello, Idaho, which crests the summit at Kamela, Oregon. The summit lies on Union Pacific's La Grande Subdivision, which runs between La Grande and Hinkle, the latter of which is the site of a major UP yard.
Wildlife
Birds of the area include bald eagle, Lewis's woodpecker, Williamson's sapsucker, red-breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglet and many migratory species, with the riverbanks important habitat for this birdlife. Mammals that move through the mountain grasslands include Rocky Mountain elk, Bighorn sheep and Mule deer. Native fish include Chinook Salmon, Steelhead, Redband Trout, Bull Trout, and Pacific Lamprey.
The Blue Mountains in Washington are home to one of 10 identified elk herds in the state, with a population of approximately 4,500 Rocky Mountain elk as of 2018 across the region.[17] In 1989, in response to a decline in the elk population and a heavy female-biased population, the Washington Fish & Wildlife Department regulated elk hunting in the Washington Blue Mountains with a "spike-only" general hunting season, permitting hunting of only male elk with at least one visible non-branched antler.[17] By the mid 1990s the area then became known for its mature males and trophy hunting.[18] In 2018, Washington State proposed an updated elk management plan intended to improve the health of elk populations and habitats, reduce human conflict and agricultural damage, and managing elk populations for recreational, educational, scientific, and ceremonial purposes.[17]
Land management
The lands in the Blue Mountains are managed not only by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management public agencies, but also by private land owners and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Location
Much of the range is included in the Malheur National Forest, Umatilla National Forest, and Wallowa–Whitman National Forest. Several wilderness areas encompass remote parts of the range, including the North Fork Umatilla Wilderness, the North Fork John Day Wilderness, the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, and the Monument Rock Wilderness, all of which are in Oregon. The Wenaha–Tucannon Wilderness sits astride the Oregon–Washington border.
Drainage
The range is drained by several rivers, including the Grande Ronde and Tucannon, tributaries of the Snake, as well as the forks of the John Day, Umatilla and Walla Walla rivers, tributaries of the Columbia. The southernmost portion of the Blue Mountains is drained by the Silvies River, in the endorheic Harney Basin.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Blue Mountains (OR)". summitpost.org. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
- ^ "Rock Creek Butte, Oregon". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ "Rock Creek Butte". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ a b "Blue Mountains". www.oregonencyclopedia.org.
- ^ "Blue Mountains". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1986-05-22. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
- ^ Casselman, Anne. "Strange but True: The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus". Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
- ^ JSTOR 3898574.
- ^ "Blue Mountains | mountains, Oregon-Washington, United States | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- ISBN 978-1-60469-147-4.
- ^ cbgwma.org:The Columbia River Basalt Group | Continental flood basalt flows | cbgwma.org, accessdate: February 8, 2017
- ^ a b "Oregon: A Geologic History - Unit 1. Exotic Terranes: foundation blocks of Oregon". oregongeology.org. Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
- ^ Bishop, Ellen Morris. "In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History." Timber Press, Portland, OR, 2003.
- ^ "Oregon: A Geologic History - Unit 5. Early Volcanic Arc: Oregon's tropical volcanoes". oregongeology.org. Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
- OCLC 881848637.
- ^ Miller, M.B. "Roadside Geology of Oregon, Second Edition." Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, MT, 2014.
- ISBN 9780295975504.
- ^ a b c "Washington State Elk Herd Plan: Blue Mountains Elk Herd | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife". wdfw.wa.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- S2CID 85919171.
External links
- "Blue Mountains (mountain range)". Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names. 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-28.