South Fork Willow Creek Research Natural Area Burns District , BLM Northern Basin and Range Ecoregion Cell(s): Wet sedge meadow in alpine cirque

Access by unpaved road and hiking

The 92 ha South Fork Willow Creek RNA encompasses the upper part of a glacial cirque located on the east rim of Steens Mountain at the headwaters of the South Fork of Willow Creek in Harney County, Oregon. The natural area contains a wide variety of microhabitats including rock outcrops, ledges, a series of three boggy terraces with pools, streams, and open shrubby areas, with special plant communities related to downslope snow accumulation and the upper cirque. Average annual precipitation is 76 to 102 cm. Soil series are represented by Croesus and Krackle, with rock outcrops. Elevation ranges from 2,600 to 2,950 m. Rare and special status plants in this natural area include Steens Mountain paintbrush (Castilleja pilosa var. steenensis), gray moonwort (Botrychium minganense), pinnate grapefern (Botrychium pinnatum), lance-leaved grapefern (Botrychium lanceolatum), Hayden's cymopterus (Cymopterus nivalis), weak-stemmed stonecrop (Sedum debile), foetid sedge (Carex vernacula), Bellard's kobresia (Kobresia bellardii), short-fruited willow (Salix brachycarpa), alpine fescue (Festuca brachyphylla), capillary sedge (Carex capillaris), Cusick's giant hyssop (Agastache cusickii), moss gentian (Gentiana prostrata), sticky polemonium (Polemonium viscosum), and slender gentian (Gentianella tenella ssp. tenella). Human developments within the RNA include less than 0.4 km of the Steens Loop Road and the East Rim Viewpoint. The RNA is within the no livestock grazing area on Steens Mountain. Don Mansfield completed a vegetation survey of this RNA in 1994.