LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Harney Basin
built 636 days ago
The Harney Basin is an arid basin (and a physiographic section) in southeastern Oregon in the United States, at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. One of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, it is located largely in northern Harney County, bounded on the north and east by the Columbia Plateau (of which it is contained within, physiographically) and the south and west by a volcanic plain. The basin encompasses an area of approximately 13,800 sq mi (38,900 km²) in the watershed of Malheur Lake and Harney Lake. Malheur Lake is a freshwater lake, while Harney Lake is saline-alkaline.[1]
Source:
The Harney Basin, a part of the larger Great Basin region of the western United States, is an arid and flat stretch of land that has no natural outlet to the sea. Harney Lake, Malheur Lake and the Steens Mountains are its major features.
Source:
Experience the wonder and diversity of the Harney Basin, which provides vital staging, resting, and feeding grounds for Pacific Flyway migrants. Tours include Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Alvord Desert, and several hot spots. More than 240 species may be seen here, including Bald Eagle, nesting Sandhill Crane and Trumpeter Swan, Ross’s and Greater White-fronted Geese, Sage Grouse, American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, and Eurasian Wigeon. Interpretive activities and an art show will keep the whole family entertained. Contact: Harney County Chamber of Commerce, 18 West D St., Burns, OR 97720 or call 503-573-2636.
Source:
Annual precipitation in Harney Basin varies from over 19" over the upland watershed of the Silvies River to less than 10" over the alluvial basins. (Mc Dowell 1992) At Burns and Malheur National Wildlife Headquarters, the climatic regime is arid, while in the uplands it is semiarid. Mean annual precipitation at Burns is 7.8 inches and mean annual temperature is 46.4 Farenheight. Two different precipitation mechanisms are present, creating a bimodal distribution during the year. Like most of the Pacific Northwest, the received winter storms result from large-scale low pressure centers steered by the westerlies . A second precipitation mechanism at Burns is thunderstorms occurring during the late spring and early summer. May and June is a relative wet time for Harney Basin.
Source:
Archaeological investigations in Harney Basin were first initiated in the mid-1960s and serious archaeological research was not initiated until the early-1970s. The 1980s was a period of accelerated archaeological investigations in the Harney Basin, due in part to extensive flooding in the basin during the mid-'80s which exposed hundreds of sites. Of particular interest was a series of surveys and excavations conducted at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. These investigations have revealed a long sequence of human occupations related to wetland settings, beginning in the Early Holocene and continuing to historic contact. Archaeological efforts in the 1990s have continued at Malheur Wildlife Refuge, but important contributions have ... emerged from studies in the uplands, Diamond Swamp, and within the city of Burns.
Source:
The Harney Basin supports a rich and varied fauna. Large game animals include mule deer, antelope, and mountain sheep. Carnivores include bobcat, mountain lion, coyote, red fox, raccoon, river otter. Lagomorphs include white and black-tailed jackrabbits, Nuttall's cottontail, and pygmy rabbit. A wide variety of rodents includes chipmunks and squirrels, western pocket gophers, and various rats and mice, porcupine, muskrat, lizards, frogs, toads, and fish, (Greenspan 1985).
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Harney Basin