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Deschutes/John Day Canyons

Ecoregion on Columbia Plateau, OR

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Deeply cut into basalt, the Deschutes/John Day Canyons fragment a lightly populated portion of the Umatilla Plateau (10c). Canyon depths up to 2,000 feet create drier conditions than on the plateau above. In the canyons, bunchgrasses, Wyoming big sagebrush, and cheatgrass grow on rocky, colluvial soil. Riparian vegetation in narrow reaches is often limited to a band of white alder at the water line; broader floodplains and gravel bars are dominated by introduced species, such as reed canarygrass, sweetclover, and teasel. The rivers support chinook salmon and steelhead runs.

— EPA

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