Little Blitzen River

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Little Blitzen River
Gorge on the Little Blitzen River

Gorge on the Little Blitzen River

Data
Water code US :  1123136
location Harney County , Oregon , United States
River system Donner and Blitzen River
Drain over Donner and Blitzen River  → Malheur Lake
source at Steens Mountain
42 ° 40 ′ 33 "  N , 118 ° 34 ′ 56"  W.
Source height 2737  m
muzzle Donner and Blitzen River at Riddle Ranch Coordinates: 42 ° 40 ′ 26 "  N , 118 ° 47 ′ 37"  W 42 ° 40 ′ 26 "  N , 118 ° 47 ′ 37"  W
Mouth height 1306  m
Height difference 1431 m
Bottom slope 72 ‰
length 20 km

The Little Blitzen River is a 20 km long tributary of the Donner and Blitzen Rivers in the US state of Oregon . It rises on the western flank of Steens Mountain , about 30 km southeast of Frenchglen and about 110 km south of Burns in Harney County . The Little Blitzen River flows westward through a gorge and then joins the South Fork Donner and Blitzen Rivers at 42 ° 40 ′ 26 "  N , 118 ° 47 ′ 37"  W to form the main stretch of Donner and Blitzen River, the wider one 65 km to its confluence with Malheur Lake . The Donner and Blitzen River got its name from soldiers of German origin. They had crossed the river during a thunderstorm in 1864 and named it Donner und Blitzen.

Under the Omnibus Oregon Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1988, the United States Congress designated the section of the Little Blitzen River from its sources to its confluence with the South Fork Blitzen River as a National Wild and Scenic River . He is also one of the 2000 established by Congress reserve for the subspecies Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdnerii of rainbow trout .

geology

Little Blitzen Gorge, the canyon the river flows through, is one of four large U-shaped valleys cut by the ice on the western flank of Steens Mountain during the last Ice Age . The approximately 50 km long mountain is the largest fault table mountain in the northern Great Basin . The eastern side is almost vertical, the western side is a little flatter. These gorges cut into the basalt are up to 800 m deep. The Little Blitzen River rises about 2700 m above sea ​​level , almost at the top of the mountain; the difference in altitude between the headwaters and the mouth is about 1400 m.

natural reserve

Little Blitzen Gorge as seen from the summit of Steens Mountain.

Most of the Little Blitzen River's catchment area lies within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (CMPA), which was established in 2000 to ensure the long-term integrity of the region. The CMPA covers an area of ​​approximately 170,000 hectares administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Steens Mountain Advisory Council. Around 40,000 hectares of this are protected as a livestock-free zone. The Little Blitzen Research Natural Area is a 40,000 hectare nature reserve, in which, among other things, plant species such as saxifrage , rock flowers and beard thread . The Donner and Blitzen river system, including the Little Blitzen River, is the habitat for Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdnerii , and is the first Redband Trout Sanctuary. It consists of the public land on the Donner and Blitzen River and its tributaries above the Fish Creek in the width of the floodplain.

recreation

The Little Blitzen River is a National Wild and Scenic River ; the designation applies to the main watercourse and its main tributaries between the headwaters and the southern border of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Frenchglen. Recreational opportunities in the area include wildlife viewing, camping, fishing, and hiking. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife requires anglers on the Little Blitzen River to release the fish they catch.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b PUBLIC LAW 100-557-OCT. 28, 1988: OMNIBUS OREGON WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS ACT of 1988
  2. ^ A b c Online Topographic Maps from the United States Geological Survey . TopoQuest. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  3. ^ A b Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer , 1991. Edition, DeLorme Mapping ,, ISBN 0-89933-235-8 , pp. 74, 77-78.
  4. ↑ Little Blitzen River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey . The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) runs the South Fork as part of the main course of the Donner and Blitzen River. Accordingly, the source of the river is at 42 ° 32 '2 "  N , 118 ° 43' 52"  W and not at the mouth of the Little Blitzen River.
  5. ↑ David Jouris: All Over the Map: An Extraordinary Atlas of the United States ( English ). Ten Speed ​​Press , 1994, ISBN 0898156491 , p. 92 (accessed January 15, 2009).
  6. ^ Lewis A. McArthur, McArthur, Lewis L .: Oregon Geographic Names, Seventh Edition . Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, Oregon 2003, ISBN 0-87595-277-1 , p. 297.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h Steens Mountain ( English ) Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  8. ↑ Donner und Blitzen River Redband Trout Reserve ( English ) In: US Code Collection . Cornell University Law School. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  9. ↑ a b Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan ( English , pdf) In: Andrews / Steens Resource Management Plan . Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  10. ↑ Little Blitzen River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
  11. ↑ Pacific Northwest Interagency Natural Areas Network: Little Blitzen RNA (accessed April 29, 2019)
  12. ^ Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: Oregon Native Fish Status Report - Malheur Lakes Redband Trout , 2008
  13. ^ Donner and Blitzen River, Oregon ( English ) Public Lands Interpretive Association. 1997-2008. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
  14. ↑ Welcome to the ODFW Recreation Reports Southeast Zone: Fishing: Blitzen River: Trout . Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2008.