Kiger Creek (Harney County, Oregon)

Last updated
Kiger Creek
Kiger Gorge Overlook, Steens Mountain Wilderness.jpg
Kiger Gorge, looking north, downstream
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the mouth of Kiger Creek in Oregon
EtymologyFor the Kiger family, who briefly settled in the vicinity in the 1870s [1]
Location
Country United States
State Oregon
County Harney
Physical characteristics
Source Steens Mountain
 ⁃ location Oregon
 ⁃ coordinates 42°42′29″N118°33′57″W / 42.70806°N 118.56583°W / 42.70806; -118.56583 [2]
 ⁃ elevation7,979 ft (2,432 m) [3]
Mouth Swamp Creek
 ⁃ coordinates
 43°01′59″N118°42′48″W / 43.03306°N 118.71333°W / 43.03306; -118.71333 Coordinates: 43°01′59″N118°42′48″W / 43.03306°N 118.71333°W / 43.03306; -118.71333 [2]
 ⁃ elevation
4,163 ft (1,269 m) [2]
TypeWild
DesignatedOctober 30, 2000

Kiger Creek is a tributary of Swamp Creek in Harney County in the U.S. state of Oregon. [2] It originates on Steens Mountain and flows generally north through Kiger Gorge to meet Swamp Creek near the unincorporated community of Diamond. The combined streams flow into Diamond Swamp and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. [4]

Harney County, Oregon County in the United States

Harney County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,422, making it the fifth-least populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Burns. Established in 1889, the county is named in honor of William S. Harney, a military officer of the period, who was involved in the Pig War and popular in the Pacific Northwest.

U.S. state constituent political entity of the United States

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.

Oregon U.S. state in the United States

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the 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. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada.

Contents

A 4.3-mile (6.9 km) segment of Kiger Creek, from its headwaters to where it crosses the Steens Mountain Wilderness boundary, is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Designated "wild", the creek supports a population of redband trout, and its watershed includes habitat for mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn. [5]

Steens Mountain Wilderness

The Steens Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area surrounding a portion of Steens Mountain of southeastern Oregon 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 170,166 acres (68,864 ha) of the CMPA's total 428,156 acres (173,269 ha). 98,859 acres (40,007 ha) of the Wilderness are protected from grazing and free of cattle.

National Wild and Scenic Rivers System Conservation effort of certain rivers in the United States and its territories

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Actof 1968, enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

Redband trout are a group of three recognized subspecies of rainbow trout. They occur in three distinct regions in Pacific basin tributaries and endorheic basins in the western United States. The three subspecies are the Columbia River redband trout, the McCloud River redband trout and the Great Basin redband trout.

Name

Kiger Creek as well as Kiger Island in the Willamette River near Corvallis are named for Reuben C. Kiger and his family, pioneers who settled in Benton County in the mid-19th century. In 1874, they moved to Harney County to the Steens Mountain vicinity but, fearing Native Americans, returned to western Oregon in 1878. Minerva J. (Dolly) Kiger named the creek as well as one of its tributaries, Cucamonga Creek, and another nearby stream, McCoy Creek. [1]

Kiger Island is a 2,200-acre (8.9 km2) island in Oregon formed by a fork between the Willamette River and the Booneville Channel. The island is located at 44°30′45″N123°14′03″W. Kiger Island is south of Corvallis in southeastern Benton County, with the Linn County line following the contour of the eastern (river) side of the island. The only road to the island, SE Kiger Island Drive, is located off of Highway 99W, just 2.5 miles south of downtown Corvallis.

Willamette River major river in northwest Oregon

The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is 187 miles (301 km) long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward between the Oregon Coast Range and the Cascade Range, the river and its tributaries form the Willamette Valley, a basin that contains two-thirds of Oregon's population, including the state capital, Salem, and the state's largest city, Portland, which surrounds the Willamette's mouth at the Columbia.

Corvallis, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Corvallis is a city in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462. Its population was estimated by the Portland Research Center to be 55,298 in 2013. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

Recreation

Near the creek's source is Kiger Gorge Overlook, a recreation site managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The U-shaped gorge, carved through basalt by ice age glaciers, is about a half-mile deep. The overlook is 22 miles (35 km) from the unincorporated community of Frenchglen along Steens Mountain Loop Road. The site is generally open from July 4 through November 1. [6]

Bureau of Land Management agency within the United States Department of the Interior

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering public lands. With oversight over 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2), it governs one eighth of the country's landmass. President Harry S. Truman created the BLM in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the General Land Office and the Grazing Service. The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862. Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Basalt A magnesium- and iron-rich extrusive igneous rock

Basalt is a mafic extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich lava exposed at or very near the surface of a terrestrial planet or a moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Basalt lava has a low viscosity, due to its low silica content, resulting in rapid lava flows that can spread over great areas before cooling and solidification. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series of lava basalt flows.

Frenchglen, Oregon Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Frenchglen is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. It is 60 miles (97 km) south of Burns on Oregon Route 205 and its population is approximately 12.

At a somewhat lower elevation of 7,800 feet (2,400 m) above sea level is the Jackman Park Campground. It is along Steens Mountain Loop Road about 3 miles (5 km) from Kiger Gorge Overlook and 19 miles (31 km) from Frenchglen. Open from June 10 to November 1, the BLM campground has six sites, toilets, and picnic tables. [7]

The Kiger Wild Horse Viewing Area, also managed by the BLM, is in the vicinity. It consists of 37,000 acres (15,000 ha) of habitat suitable for free-roaming Kiger mustangs. The area has several viewing sites, generally open from May 1 to November 15. The access road to the site is about 3 miles (5 km) from Diamond. [8]

Kiger mustang Strain of mustang horse originating in Oregon, US

The Kiger mustang is a strain of mustang horse located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. Feral horses with specific conformation traits discovered in 1977, the name applies only to wild-captured individuals and does not apply to their bred-in-captivity progeny, which are known as Kiger horses. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers two herd management areas for Kiger mustangs in the Burns District—Kiger and Riddle Mountain, in the Steens Mountain area. DNA testing has shown that Kiger mustangs are descended largely from Spanish horses brought to North America in the 17th century, a bloodline thought to have largely disappeared from mustang herds before the Kiger horses were found.

Tributaries

Named tributaries of Kiger Creek, listed from source to mouth, include Big Pasture Creek, which enters from the right, then Mud, Little Kiger, and Poison creeks, all from the right. Cucamonga Creek enters from the left, downstream of where Kiger Creek splits into two distributaries and passes under Diamond Lane as it nears Swamp Creek. [4]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 533–34. ISBN   0-87595-277-1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Kiger Creek". Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). United States Geological Survey (USGS). November 28, 1980. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
  4. 1 2 "United States Topographic Map". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved December 9, 2015– via ACME Mapper.Cite web requires |website= (help)
  5. ↑ "Wildhorse & Kiger Creeks, Oregon". National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved December 9, 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
  6. ↑ "Kiger Gorge Overlook". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved December 10, 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
  7. ↑ "Jackman Park Campground". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved December 10, 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
  8. ↑ "Kiger Wild Horse Viewing Area". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved December 10, 2015.Cite web requires |website= (help)
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