Oregon Badlands Wilderness
| Oregon Badlands Wilderness | |
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IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
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Oregon Badlands with sagebrush in bloom, Juniper trees, and proximity to Oregon Cascades
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| Location | Deschutes / Crook counties, Oregon, United States |
| Nearest city | Bend, Oregon |
| Coordinates | 44°00′N 121°02′W / 44°N 121.04°WCoordinates: 44°00′N 121°02′W / 44°N 121.04°W |
| Area | 29,301 acres (11,858 ha) |
| Established | United States Bureau of Land Management |
The Oregon Badlands Wilderness is a 29,301-acre (11,858 ha) wilderness area located east of Bend in Deschutes and Crook counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The wilderness is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System and was created by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on 30 March 2009.
The area is known for igneous castle-like rock formations, harsh terrain, ancient Juniper trees, sagebrush, and extensive arid land. Desert wildflowers, dry river canyons, and Native American pictographs can be found. The blind iditarod racer Rachel Scdoris trained in the area, and the wilderness is home to the western terminus of the Oregon Desert Trail.
The wilderness is situated on high desert terrain and is associated with a volcanic rootless shield. This broad 10-to-12-kilometre (6.2 to 7.5 mi) volcanic shield issued lava from a rootless vent. The lava flow dates to about 80,000 years old and comes from a main vent further up the slopes of Newberry Volcano. This main vent was located near Lava Top Butte and the lava that came out of this vent travelled through the Arnold Lava Tube System to arrive at the current location of the Badlands. An irregularly-shaped pit crater at the top of the shield marks the site where lava flowed in all directions to create the Badlands.Lava tubes acted as conduits for the lava in some instances and are evidenced on the surface by tumuli, also known as pressure ridges. Soils in the Badlands were largely formed from ash associated with the eruption of Mount Mazama some 7,700 years ago.
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