Kalmiopsis Wilderness
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Kalmiopsis Wilderness is a
wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...
area in the
Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...
of southwestern
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, within the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. It was designated wilderness by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
in 1964 and now comprises a total of .Kalmiopsis Wilderness
- Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest
There are approximately of trails on 24 established hiking trails in the area. The Kalmiopsis Wilderness was named for '' Kalmiopsis leachiana'', a slow-growing plant related to the
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...
, which was discovered in the area in 1930.


History

Historically, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was a mining district. Gold was discovered about 1850, causing a gold rush into the area. A number of mining towns were built and more than a dozen hard rock mines were started. Many people lived there up into the mid-1940s. In 1962, many of the homes and stores were still habitable and all the mining equipment and buildings were still in place. The wilderness area was established in 1964. In 2002, lightning started the Biscuit Fire that burned much of the area and damaged many of the hiking trails. Some of the trails destroyed in the fire re-opened in 2015.


Topography

Elevations in Kalmiopsis Wilderness range from , at Pearsoll Peak. The area is characterized by deep, rough canyons, sharp rock ridges, and clear, rushing mountain streams and rivers. The wilderness includes the headwater basins of the Chetco, North Fork Smith Rivers, as well as part of the
Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...
canyon. All three of these rivers have been designated Wild and Scenic.


Geology

The Kalmiopsis Wilderness is part of the Klamath Mountain geologic province of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. The eastern half is part of the Josephine "ultramafic" sheet, meaning it has a very high
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
and
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...
content. The western half of the Wilderness is underlain by the sedimentary rocks of the Dothan formation and by the igneous intrusive rocks of the Big Craggies. Most of the rocks in this province were formerly parts of the oceanic crust, and include serpentine, submarine volcanic flow rocks, intrusive granite-like rocks, and sedimentary rocks such as
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
and
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
.Kalmiopsis Wilderness
- Wilderness.net
Historic mine sites for
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
and
chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...
can still be found in the form of cabin sites, mines, and ditches.


Vegetation

Diversity of topography and geology provide excellent habitat for a wide variety of botanical species. The '' Kalmiopsis leachiana'' plant was discovered in 1930 by Lilla Leach in the Gold Basin area. The plant is a
relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...
of the pre-ice age and the oldest member of the ''Ericaceae'' Family, and is the namesake of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. In 2002, the nearly Biscuit Fire burned the entire wilderness area. The environment has changed dramatically and provides a unique opportunity to observe a natural response to fire disturbance through plant succession, erosional and depositional occurrences and changed habitat for flora and fauna. The Chetco Bar Fire re-burned large portions of the area in 2017.


See also

* List of Oregon Wildernesses * List of U.S. Wilderness Areas *
Wilderness Act The Wilderness Act of 1964 () is a federal land management statute meant to protect U.S. Wilderness Area, federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Socie ...


References


External links


Summary of Biscuit Complex Fire
- Wilderness Society
National Public Radio
- Audio story after the Biscuit Fire. * - Kalmiopsis leachiana Survival in a land of Extremes {{Authority control Wilderness areas of Oregon Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Klamath Mountains Protected areas of Curry County, Oregon Protected areas of Josephine County, Oregon Rogue River (Oregon) IUCN Category Ib Protected areas established in 1964 1964 establishments in Oregon