Tualatin Mountains

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Tualatin Mountains
The Tualatin Mountains on a satellite image of Portland

The Tualatin Mountains on a satellite image of Portland

Highest peak Cornell Mountain ( 387  m )
location Multnomah County , Washington County
part of Oregon Coast Range
Tualatin Mountains (USA)
Tualatin Mountains
Coordinates 45 ° 35 ′  N , 122 ° 48 ′  W Coordinates: 45 ° 35 ′  N , 122 ° 48 ′  W
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View of the southern Tualatin Mountains from the southwest

The Tualatin Mountains [ twäˈlə tən ] (also West Hills , Southwest Hills or Portland Hills ) are a range of hills near Portland , Oregon , USA . They reach their greatest height in Cornell Mountain at 387  m .

Location and surroundings

The Tualatin Mountains extend for about 20 kilometers in a northwest-southeast direction on the west bank of the Willamette River or its tributary Multnomah in the northwest of Portland. To the west extends the wide valley of the Tualatin River , a tributary of the Willamette River.

Part of the hills are within the Portland metropolitan area. Politically, the area belongs to Multnomah County , only the westernmost foothills are in Washington County .

In the southeast, the area of ​​the hills is already heavily populated, but around 2000 hectares are protected by the Forest Park , which was declared in 1948 and is now the largest urban forest in the USA. This part of the hill and the northern sections are heavily forested.

mountains

  • Cornell Mountain , 387  m
  • "Portland High Point" (unnamed highest point in the urban area of ​​Portland), 360  m
  • Council Crest, 323  m
  • Pittock Hill, 305  m

geology

The mountain range is of volcanic origin and is largely made up of Columbia plateau basalt and rocks from the Boring lava field . The rock is covered by a layer of loess , which mainly consists of Pleistocene silt . This layer, which was largely deposited in the course of the Missoula floods 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, is very unstable, especially when wet, and tends to slide.

fauna and Flora

Much of the southeastern section of the Tualatin Mountains is protected in Forest Park
Forest in the forest park

The natural vegetation of the area is mainly dominated by the West American hemlock . In addition, Douglas firs and the giant tree of life are decisive. However, forestry has changed the natural vegetation, so that hardwoods such as red alder and Oregon maple are relatively common today. The forests have dense undergrowth .

Due to the good connection to the natural ecosystems further northwest, the Forest Park has a high biodiversity for an urban forest . In addition to coyotes , bobcats and mule deer, even black bears and pumas penetrate into the immediate vicinity of the city. Preserving these connections is now seen as the most important condition for the preservation of the fauna of the Tualatin Mountains.

history

The name of the mountain is derived from the Tualatin (also called Atfalati ) people who once settled here , a northern group of the Kalapuya . The original meaning of the word tualatin is not known.

For the European settlers, the steep and densely forested mountains were of little value compared to the wide fertile plains in their west, which until around 1840 were mainly used as pastureland by English cattle breeders and later for wheat cultivation.

As a result of the Donation Land Claim Act (1850), the area was divided among white settlers from 1851. However, due to the low value, a large part of the site was not used. As a result, claims forfeited and many properties were bequeathed to the city. This and the unstable geological conditions contributed a lot to the preservation of the natural state in this area, as many construction projects were prevented by the unreliable subsoil. In addition, as early as 1900, work began on protecting the forests of the Tualatin Mountains from development by designating the first protected areas and preserving them as a near-natural recreational area .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b William Bright: Native American Placenames of the United States . University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2004, ISBN 0-8061-3598-0 , pp. 515 ( books.google.at [accessed on April 16, 2012]).
  2. ↑ a b Ken Walsh, Gary L. Peterson, Marvin H. Beeson, Ray E. Wells, Robert J. Fleck, Russell C. Evarts, Alison Duvall, Richard J. Blakely, Scott Burns: A Tunnel Runs Through It - An Inside View of the Tualatin Mountains, Oregon. US Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3144. In: usgs.gov. pubs.usgs.gov, accessed April 16, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b c ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Peakbagger-122208 )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.peakbagger.com
  4. ↑ a b Forest Park , accessed April 7, 2012
  5. ^ Charles W. Welby, Monica E. Gowan, A Paradox of Power: Voices of Warning and Reason in the Geosciences . Ed .: Geological Society of America. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo. 1998, ISBN 0-8137-4112-2 , pp. 44 ( books.google.at ).
  6. ↑ a b c d ( page no longer available , search in web archives: forestparkconservancy.org ), accessed on April 7, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.forestparkconservancy.org
  7. ^ Carl Abbott: Greater Portland. Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest . University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, Pa 2001, ISBN 0-8122-1779-9 , pp. 36 ( books.google.at ).
  8. ^ Christine Barnes: Only in Oregon: Natural and Manmade Landmarks and Oddities . Farcountry Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-56037-292-9 , pp. 41 ( books.google.at ).