Strawberry Mountain - Pine Creek WSA
The Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Study Areas are three small study areas located adjacent to the U.S. Forest Service Strawberry Mountain Wilderness in Grant County. All of the study areas lie within ten miles of each other around the perimeter of the Strawberry Mountain Range and on the northern and western boundaries of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness.
The Pine Creek study area (OR-2-98A) is located on the north side of the wilderness in the John Day Valley about 5.5 miles southeast of Canyon City and John Day. The Pine Creek WSA contains 200 acres of BLM land. The area is 0.75 miles in length and just over half a mile in width. It is bounded on the south by the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness and on the remaining sides by private land.
The Pine Creek WSA is situated on a steep north-facing slope which varies in elevation from 4,440 feet on the southeast in the Pine Creek drainage to 5,760 feet on the southwest side at the top of a ridge. Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir blanket the drainages with interspersed open grassy areas along the ridgelines. Small drainages and steep slopes make up the general topography of the area. A small portion of Pine Creek cuts through the southeastern corner of the WSA.
These were studied under Section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act as they contain wilderness values only in conjunction with the larger existing wilderness area which they border. They were included in the Final Oregon Wilderness Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) filed in February 1990.
