Illinois Valley news., May 27, 2009, Page 21, Image 21

Here, amid mountains cov-
ered with dense pine and fir forest,
is a place with a plant community
you would expect to find in the
high desert of eastern Oregon.
Rough and Ready Forest is
situated on an unusual geologic
landscape called an alluvial fan,
which creates a combination of
challenges for plant growth. The
deep gravel deposits that make up
the alluvial fan do not retain rain
water, so the ground quickly
drains creating an artificial arid
environment.
In addition to this, the Rough
and Ready Creek watershed is
entirely contained within one of
the largest exposures of mantle
rock in North America. For this
reason, the rocks that make up the
alluvial fan are almost entirely
made up of mantle rock. Mantle
rocks do not contain many essen-
tial plant nutrients and the soil
from the break-down of these
rocks tends to be poorly suited for
supporting plant growth.
Mantle rock also has large
quantities of chrome and nickel,
which may be toxic to some
plants. The combination of arid
conditions, poor soils and toxic
metals has resulted in the estab-
lishment of a plant community
that is best suited for survival un-
der these extreme conditions.
Many of the trees growing here
tend to be dwarf versions of trees
that would otherwise grow to 100
to 200 feet if soil and water were
not constraining factors.
This unique environment is
what makes Rough and Ready
Forest State Park an unusual and
one-of-a-kind
place to visit
as you travel
on Redwood
Hwy. (Hwy.
199) of Ore-
gon and Cali-
fornia.
The illus-
tration
shows a geo-
logic map
superim-
posed on a
satellite image to help you visual-
ize where this alluvial fan is lo-
cated in relation to other land-
marks in the area. The youngest
deposits (light yellow) are about
2,000 years and the oldest deposits
(orange) are around 10,000 years
old. Hwy. 199 enters this deposit
from the north at Westside Road
and, from the south, at the bridge
over the West Fork of the Illinois
River.
Rough and Ready Forest State
Park is situated on the youngest
section of the fan. A dense stand of
fir trees south of the park marks a
section of the oldest deposits, and
stands of knobcone pine south of
the fir trees mark the intermediate
aged sections of the alluvial fan.
* * *
Illustration modified from:
Coleman, Robert G., 1997. Geo-
logical origin of serpentine and its
distribution in the Siskiyou-
Klamath coast
range mountains
north of latitude
forty-one degrees,
thirty minutes.
Proceedings of the
First Conference
on Siskiyou Ecol-
ogy, Kerby, Ore-
gon, May
1997. Ed. Beigel,
Jennifer K etal,,
Siskiyou Regional
Education Project.
Rough and Ready Forest State
Park was established in 1937 as a
result of the efforts of the Illinois
Valley Garden Club. Members
Continued on page 25
Fast – Friendly – Convenient
Oldest convenience store in Illinois Valley
Open 7 days a week & all holidays
• Beer • Local Wines
• Dairy Products • Coke & Pepsi
• The best breakfast muffins in town
• Corndogs • Burritos • Char-burgers
• BBQ-rib Sandwich • Jo-Jo’s
• Mini-pizzas
Celebrating 21-years!
3 blocks East of Redwood Hwy.,
on the way to the Caves
Valley Visitor
7