Summary

Description	Hungate Canyon, Moses Coulee, Columbia River Plateau. About 15,000 years ago, an ice dam holding in a glacial lake repeatedly failed, causing immense flooding across Oregon and Washington. One of the dramatic features carved out by the ice age Missoula Floods: Moses Coulee in the Columbia River Plateau. In central Washington, above the Moses Coulee valley floor, the BLM manages a beautiful landscape of rolling hills, steep basalt cliffs and the vital sagebrush steppe. Evidence of the ancient Lake Missoula flooding is still visible in the canyon where there are giant ripple marks and extensive gravel bars. “A trip between the coulee’s steep walls is like poking around in the basement of time,” wrote Ron Judd, a nature columnist for the Seattle Times. The desert canyon habitat supports a variety of wildlife, including mule deer, coyote, skunks, badgers, mice and bats. Hungate Canyon's creek sustains a number of plants not usually found in the sage steppe environment, including Carex pra
Date	2016-05-11
Source	commons.wikimedia.org
Author	Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington

Licensing

CC BY

Attribution: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, 2016-05-11