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Old 09-14-2010, 01:15 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
1,373 posts, read 3,126,019 times
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I would personally say the SE frontier is true desert or very close to it - northeastern Oregon is more of a steppe or even prairie, IMO. kinda like eastern Montana.

actually isn't a lot of northeastern Oregon quite well wooded?
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Old 09-14-2010, 08:02 AM
 
Location: Baker City, Oregon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MimzyMusic View Post
I would personally say the SE frontier is true desert or very close to it - northeastern Oregon is more of a steppe or even prairie, IMO. kinda like eastern Montana.
Your concise description is good - much better than the usual "all of Eastern Oregon is high desert," or the more inaccurate "all of Eastern Oregon is desert." To more accurately describe an area as large and varied as Eastern Oregon would take many, many pages.

A true desert has less than 10 inches of rain annually and is unable to support the growth of most plants.

If you look here:
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/c...hermaps/or.gif
you will see that there are a few areas in Eastern Oregon, a lot of them in the SE, that receive less than 10 inches of rain, but most receive more, some a lot more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MimzyMusic View Post
actually isn't a lot of northeastern Oregon quite well wooded?
Yes, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest is one area:
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest - Welcome!
Local Communities Adjacent to Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
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Old 09-14-2010, 08:38 AM
 
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Many don't think of this type of country when they think of eastern Oregon...


eastern oregon - Pacific Crest Stock Photography Blog

Sure, there is desert in Eastern Oregon...but there's much more.

SummitPost - Eagle Cap -- Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering
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Old 09-14-2010, 09:45 AM
 
Location: Oceanside and Chehalem Mtns.
716 posts, read 2,816,745 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MimzyMusic View Post
actually isn't a lot of northeastern Oregon quite well wooded?
Yes, parts of NE Oregon resemble the Swiss Alps. (ex: Joseph area)
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Old 09-14-2010, 10:48 PM
 
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Elevation is what makes such a big difference in Eastern Oregon. The SE section - Alvord Desert, Burns, etc... have a real desert 'feel' to me. The other area is the stretch between The Dalles & Pendleton. The elevation is low, vegetation is scarce - there are some low-growing opuntia cacti there - it's dusty & flat & hot in the summer. Very 'deserty' to me.
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Old 09-15-2010, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Myrtle Creek, Oregon
15,293 posts, read 17,673,340 times
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You may get farther defining a desert by vegetation rather than rainfall. There are large areas of the west that were not historically desert that have been taken over by juniper, which kills everything else. Juniper is a terrible water thief. They say that a 60% canopy of juniper will destroy the ecology so thoroughly that it will never naturally recover. Any place you see a dense stand of juniper, that's a desert.
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Old 09-15-2010, 06:32 PM
 
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Well, since the Alvord lacks just about any plants of any kind on the lake bed, I'd say it qualifies as a desert.
Little known fact--it's one of the back up landing sites for the space shuttle. It's that flat and big and empty.

Great place for, whatcacallit...sailing those things that look like boats on wheels...
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Old 09-15-2010, 06:56 PM
 
Location: Beaverton
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skinem View Post

Great place for, whatcacallit...sailing those things that look like boats on wheels...
Blokarts?
blokart.com :: fun, fast, compact!
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Old 09-15-2010, 07:06 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aroseinrain View Post
That'll work. Never heard it called that, but that's what they look like.

The senior moment passed...just always heard it referred to as land sailing. Further north they replace the wheels with big skates and go on frozen lakes.

Here's some land sailing at the Alvord. Yeah, that pretty much looks like a desert. I've never land sailed there, but I have found out how fast more than one car of mine can go there...


YouTube - Alvord Landsailing
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Old 09-15-2010, 07:30 PM
 
Location: State of Jefferson coast
963 posts, read 3,032,559 times
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There are broader and narrower conceptions of the term "desert." For many people it is relative to where they live and what kind of landscape they are accustomed to. There is no place in our state, for example, to which an Arizonan would apply the term "desert." True deserts are the result of the descending branches of Hadley Cells and so reach their northernmost limits around 30-35 degrees from the equator. Even though many Oregonians would refer to the southeastern corner of the state as "desert," the neighboring Nevadans living just across the border would not. They know what true desert is as they have parts of the Mojave and Colorado deserts in the southern reaches of their state. They would call the northwestern corner of their state "basin and range country" or "sagebrush prairie."
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