Portal:Oregon/Selected article/157

The Trout Creek Mountains are a semi-arid, remote, Great Basin mountain range mostly in southeastern Oregon and partially in northern Nevada in the United States. Its highest point is Orevada View Benchmark in Nevada, which is 8,506 feet (2,593 m) above sea level. Disaster Peak, 7,781 feet (2,372 m) above sea level, is another prominent summit in the Nevada portion of the range. The Trout Creek Mountains are characteristic of the Great Basin's topography of mostly parallel mountain ranges alternating with flat valleys. These mountains consist primarily of fault blocks of basalt, which came from ancient shield volcanoes, on top of older metamorphic rocks. The southern end of the range, however, features many granitic outcrops. Overall, the mountainous, faulted terrain has escarpments and canyons along with rolling hills and ridges. Most of the range is public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. There is very little human development in the remote region, and the mountains are available for recreation but see few visitors. Wildlife include various bushes, grasses, birds and mammals. Despite the area's dry climate, a few year-round streams provide habitat for the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout. However, grazing allotments and their effects on riparian zones led to environmental concerns in the 1980s. The Trout Creek Mountain Working Group was formed in 1988 to help resolve conflict between livestock owners and environmentalists.