A “Valley of 1,000 Hills” image from Flickr – click on the name of the photographer below to see more Durban goodness and to thank the photographer.
Sutton Mountain
Photo by BLM Oregon & Washington
The painted hills of the Sutton Mountain Wilderness Study Area in central Oregon is one of those BLM gems that almost no-one outside the local area has heard about. The lower part of the WSA has exposures of the same clay formations that are found in the much smaller but equally spectacular John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Painted Hills Unit, which lies just across the valley.
The upper peak of Sutton Mountain itself rises 2,000 feet above the valley with layers of ash and basalt building to the crest. The area is near the John Day River about an hour northeast of Prineville.
The Sutton Mountain (28,872 acres) Wilderness Study Areas is comprised of public lands which are under consideration for wilderness designation by Congress. These lands area managed by the BLM in a manner which maintains their suitability for preservation as wilderness.
When visiting, we ask the everyone bring along the 10 essentials and respect the following regulations:
-Vehicle Use: Motorized vehicle use is limited to roads signed as designated routes as depicted on the map.
-Cross-country travel on foot or horseback is allowed; however, cross-country vehicle travel is strictly prohibited.
-Violations of motor vehicle use restrictions are subject to a fine up to 00 and/or imprisonment.
-Leave a clean camp by practicing the “Pack it In, Pack it Out” ethic and leave the site better than as you found it.
-Give wildlife a break: camp away from watering areas.
-Use dead and down wood for campfires; the cutting of live vegetation or standing dead trees is prohibited.
-Obtain landowner permission before crossing private land.
More information is available at: www.blm.gov or stop by or call the Prineville BLM Office.
Prineville BLM
3050 N.E. 3rd Street
Prineville, OR 97754
Email: BLM_OR_PR_Mail@blm.gov
Phone: 541-416-6700
To learn more about wilderness study areas head on over to:
www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/oregon-w…
Photo: Michael Campbell, BLM
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Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: The Story of Huberta – Huberta was a hippopotamus and one of the most famous animals in South African history. In November 1928, Huberta left her waterhole in the St. Lucia Estuary, in Zululand and set off on the 1600km journey to the Eastern Cape, a journey which would take her three years. In that time Huberta became a minor celebrity in South Africa and attracted crowds wherever she went. She was initially thought to be a male and was nicknamed Hubert by the press. She stopped for a while at the mouth of the Mhlanga River in Natal and a failed attempt was made to capture her and put her in Johannesburg Zoo. After this, she headed south to Durban, where she visited a beach and a country club. Moving on to the Umgeni River, she became revered by Zulus and Xhosas alike. Finally she arrived in East London in March 1931. Despite her having been declared Royal Game (and thus protected) by the Natal Provincial Council, she was shot by hunters a month later. After a public outcry, the hunters were arrested and fined £25. Huberta’s body was recovered and sent to a taxidermist in London. Upon her return to South Africa in 1932, she was greeted by 20,000 people and can now be seen in the Amathole Museum, in King William’s Town.
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