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Lindsay Jones
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Tim Neville, journalist
Tim Neville, journalist
“Oregon’s Owyhee reminds me a lot of Southern Utah’s red rock country… only dipped in fudge.”
fact
What defines Oregon’s high desert?
What defines Oregon’s high desert?
Bounded by the Cascade Mountains to the west and the Blue Mountains to the north, Oregon’s high desert covers approximately 24,000 square miles. Annual rainfall in the high desert varies from 5 to 14 inches. The average elevation is 4,000 feet; at 9,733 feet, the summit of Steens Mountain is the highest point in Oregon’s high desert. The terrain of the high desert was mostly formed by a series of lava flows that occurred between 30 and 10 million years ago.
Sources: The Oregon Encyclopedia; Wikipedia
fact
Western Rattlesnake
Western Rattlesnake
Also known as the Great Basin Rattlesnake, these pit vipers have buff-tan coloring and small, oval blotches to blend into their arid surroundings. Small heat-sensing indentations on each side of the snake’s snout detects warm-blooded prey for better striking accuracy in the dark. Source: The Oregon Encyclopedia
Latin name: Crotalus oreganus lutosus
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