Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge - Lakeview OR

City:: Lakeview, OR
Site Type:: Wildlife Refuges, Forestry and Agriculture
New Deal Agencies:: Conservation and Public Lands, Work Relief Programs, Fish & Wildlife Service (FSW), Grazing Service / Division of Grazing, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Started:: 1936
Completed:: 1941
Quality of Information:: Good
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

President Roosevelt signed an executive order on December 21, 1936 to establish the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in Lake County, Oregon. This area served the largest, remaining pronghorn antelope herd in the United States. Comprised of Hart Mountain and the surrounding desert range, the 215,516 acre refuge included property purchased from private owners as well as land in the public domain.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees helped establish management of the antelope refuge through work conducted over several years. CCC Camp Hart Mountain operated from 1937 through 1939. CCC enrollees constructed new roads and improved the existing one, laid-out horse and stock trails, and built the Refuge Headquarters and Ranger Stations.

Today, the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge consists of approximately 278,000 acres of desert ecosystem and management concerns extend to the entire community of animals in that habitat. It is managed along with the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, located nearby in Nevada, from headquarters in Lakeview.

Source notes

"3442nd Company - Camp Hart Mountain, BF-4," Official Annual Medford District Civilian Conservation Corps Report. 1938. District Headquarters, Medford OR. pp. 92-94, 154.

"CCCs to Develop Antelope Refuge on Hart Plateau," Oregonian. October 23, 1937.

"Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge," Travel Oregon website (visited May 10, 2023): https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/destinations/parks-forests-wildlife-areas/hart-mountain-national-antelope refuge/#:~:text=The%20278%2C000%2Dacre%20refuge%20is,West%20free%20of%20domestic%20livestock.

Jewett, Stanley (1939) Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge. US Department of Agriculture. Misc. Pub. No. 355. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AHart_Mountain_Antelope_Refuge_-_a_national_wildlife_refuge_in_Oregon_(IA_hartmountainante355jewe).pdf&page=1

Site originally submitted by Judith T Kenny on May 13, 2023.