Harney Basin

The Harney Basin is an endorheic basin in southeastern Oregon in the United States at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. It is one of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, located mainly in northern Harney County. The basin covers 1,490 square miles (3,859 km²), including the watershed of Malheur Lake, a freshwater lake, and Harney Lake, a saline-alkaline lake.

The Harney Basin is bordered on the north and east by the Columbia Plateau, and on the south and west by a volcanic plain. To the north, it is bounded by the southern end of the Blue Mountains. The ridge of Steens Mountain separates the basin from the Alvord Desert to the southeast. No streams cross the volcanic plains that separate the basin from the watershed of the Klamath River to the southwest.

The area includes important archeological sites from the Drewsey Resource Area, showing it has been home to people for thousands of years.

Geography

The Harney Basin gets about 6 inches of rain each year, while the nearby mountains get around 15 inches. In the middle of the basin are Malheur and Harney lakes. These lakes fill up with water from streams that flow down from the surrounding mountains, such as the Silvies River and the Donner und Blitzen River. Harney Lake is where all the water finally ends up, and it is sometimes connected to Malheur Lake, depending on the sand dunes that change over time. In wet years, the lakes are full, but in dry years, they turn into marshes. The wetlands around these lakes are important for many birds that travel long distances, including about 2.5 million ducks each year. The area around Malheur Lake is part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Harney County, Oregon, where the basin is located, had 7,422 people living there in 2010. The main town is Burns, with more than 1,000 people. Most people make a living by raising animals on dry land, since there isn’t much water for irrigation.

Harney Basin Volcanic Field

The Harney Basin Volcanic Field is made up of flows of a special kind of rock called rhyolite and ash from old volcanic eruptions near Burns, Oregon. This area is part of a larger region known as the High Lava Plains.

Harney-Malheur Lakes watershed

The Harney-Malheur Lakes watershed covers 1,420 square miles and is part of a special area called the Great Basin. The nearby Donner und Blitzen River also flows into Malheur Lake and includes part of the 292 square mile Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The High Desert Wetlands is a wet area in Oregon that includes the lands around Harney and Malheur Lakes.

History

The Harney Basin was formed about 32,000 years ago when lava flows created the Malheur Gap. This separated the basin's watershed from the Malheur River, a tributary of the Snake River. Archaeological findings show that people lived in the basin as early as 10,000 years ago. The climate, especially rainfall and snowfall, has changed a lot since the end of the Pleistocene era.

In the 1800s, the Northern Paiute tribe lived in the basin. Trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company explored and trapped there in the 1820s. The basin was far from the Oregon Trail, but in 1845, a group led by Stephen Meek tried to cross it. Unfortunately, some people in the group died before they found water.

Because of its harsh climate, few white settlers lived there, and it mostly remained with the Paiute until the late 1800s. In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant created a reservation for the Paiute. However, the reservation ended in 1879. The Northern Paiute remained without land until they got some near Burns in 1935.

Today, the basin has problems with falling groundwater levels. This threatens both the environment and the economy. In some areas, the water table is dropping quickly due to irrigation pumping.