NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARKS PROGRAM
Columbia Cascades Cluster
Crown Point (29)
Fort Rock State Monument (30)
Willamette Floodplain (33)
Newberry Crater (34)
Landmark Descriptions
The Crown Point section of the Columbia Gorge illustrates more gradual stream valley formation as downcutting kept pace with the rise of the Cascade Range. The Columbia River Gorge at Crown Point passes from the steeper, more rugged terrain of the western slopes of the Cascade Range to rolling cultivated plains. The promontory provides a strategic vantage point for observing this classic illustration of riverine processes.
The site is a striking example of a circular, fort-like volcanic outcrop. Although other volcanic outcrops may exhibit many of the same features, few are as well-shaped and distinct.
The site is of national significance in providing a characteristic and high quality example of Sandy Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) Steppe. Its biota represent a distinctive climax community. It is an ecological community that typifies, geographically, the fringe of the Great Basin Desert and, biologically, the transitional area between the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest and the sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) desert.
Horse Ridge Natural Area (31)
Lawrence Memorial Grassland Preserve (32)
The site constitutes an excellent example of biscuit and scabland topography. Moreover, it is the patterned landscape superimposed upon the basaltic bedrock that is especially illustrative, as well as an associated matrix of minimally disturbed grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems.
Lawrence Memorial Grassland Preserve (32)
The site represents the largest remaining native and unplowed example of bottom-land interior valley grasslands in the North Pacific Border natural region.
The crater is a young volcano formed within the last million years during the Pleistocene and is the largest Pleistocene volcano east of the Cascade Range. It stands isolated and conspicuous on a broad plateau of lava.
