Hart Lake is a shallow lake in the Warner Valley of eastern Lake County, Oregon, United States. The lake covers and has the most stable water level within the valley's Warner Lakes chain. The lake is named for the heart-shaped brand used by the pioneer Wilson and Alexander cattle ranch established near the lake. Much of the land around Hart Lake is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The lake and the surrounding wetlands support a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. Recreational opportunities on and near Hart Lake include hunting, fishing, bird watching, and boating.
Geography and geology
Hart Lake is located in the Warner Valley in south-central Oregon. It is a natural lake that covers and is approximately long and wide. Annual precipitation in the Hart Lake basin averages from . The valley is approximately long and wide. Most of the valley is in Lake County; however, the north end extends about into Harney County. It is an alluvial basin containing numerous lakes, remnants of a single lake that covered the valley floor up to deep during the Pleistocene epoch. Today, steep cliffs rise above a chain of endorheic lakes, such as Hart Lake, known collectively as the Warner Lakes. The valley has two regions commonly referred to as the South Warner Valley and the North Warner Valley. The two areas transition between Crump Lake and Hart Lake at a point where the valley narrows to about in width.Whistler, John T. and John H. Lewis, "Location and General Conditions", Warner Valley and White River Projects, United States Reclamation Service, United States Department of Interior in cooperation with the State of Oregon, Washington D.C., February 1916, pp. 16–19."Hart Lake (Lake County)" , Online Atlas of Oregon Lakes, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, August 14, 2013."Warner Wetlands Area of Critical Environmental Concern" (PDF), Lakeview District, Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior, Lakeview, Oregon, August 26, 2005.
Hydrology
The entire lake has an average depth of and a maximum depth of at a normal water level. The deepest part of the lake is at its north end, while the south half is comparatively shallow. Hart Lake not only gets the overflow from Crump Lake, but also receives a steady flow of fresh water from Honey Creek. As a result, Hart Lake has the most stable water level within the Warner Lakes chain. Any outflow during high water drains into Anderson Lake, just north of Hart Lake.
The water in Hart Lake is quite murky due to suspended particles stirred up from the shallow bottom by wave action. However, water clarity is not a good indicator of the lake's trophic state. The amount of nutrients in the lake is very high; nitrate and phosphorus levels indicate a hypereutrophic condition. This is counterbalanced by the chlorophyll level and related phytoplankton growth, which are typical of a mesotrophic lake. This is due to the reduced light level in the lake's cloudy waters, so overall, the lake is classified as eutrophic, with very high turbidity.
Ecology
In addition to the lake's fish population, Hart Lake provides a unique habitat for plants and animals along the shore. The west-facing slope of Hart Mountain runs along the eastern shore of the lake. This area is typical high desert scrubland dominated by big sagebrush and desert grasses. The areas to the north, south, and west of the lake are mostly meadows and marshland, where marsh grasses are common along lake shores.Gottberg, John Anderson, "Pronghorn Paradise" , The Bulletin, Bend, Oregon, August 16, 2009."Welcome" , Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Lakeview, Oregon, May 25, 2012.Tagestad, J.D., "Vegetation Map of Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge" (PDF), Analysis and Mapping of Vegetation and Habitat for the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, under an Interagency Agreement with the United States Department of Energy, Richland, Washington, June 2010, p. 5. In addition, willow, cottonwood, choke cherry, and wild roses are found near the lake.Prill, A.G., "Nesting Birds of Lake County, Oregon" ,The Wilson Bulletin (Volume XXXIV, Number 3), Wilson Ornithological Club and Nebraska Ornithologists Union, Oberlin, Ohio, September 1922, p. 131. Local wildlife includes common high desert mammals, resident birds, and migrant waterfowl.Ivey, Gary L., "Warner Basin" (PDF), Oregon Closed Basins, Oregon Wetlands Joint Venture, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited, Lake Oswego, Oregon, September 28, 2000, pp. 21–22.Rakestraw, John, "Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge and the Warner Valley" in Birding Oregon: 44 Prime Birding Areas with More Than 200 Specific Sites, Falcon, Guilford, Connecticut, 2007, pp. 20–22, ."Bird Checklist Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge" , Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of Interior, Jamestown, North Dakota, February 1, 2013.
Hart Lake's native fish species include the Warner sucker, tui chub, and Great Basin redband trout."Fish Checklist: Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge" , Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of Interior, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, February 1, 2013."Physiographic Description" (PDF), Recovery Plan for the Native Fishes of the Warner Basin and Alkali Subbasin, Oregon State office, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Portland, Oregon, April 1998, p. 4. The redband trout and small populations of the other species are also found in Honey Creek. These stream-dwelling populations have likely been the source for re-colonizing Hart Lake after extended drought killed the lake populations. In addition to the native fish, rainbow trout, crappie, smallmouth bass, and bullhead catfish have been introduced into the lake. These non-native species have put significant pressure on some of the native fish, which is why the Warner sucker is classified as threatened species. A 1996 fish survey estimated the total population of adult Warner suckers resident in Hart Lake at only 493 individuals."Distribution and Abundance of Threatened and Rare Native Fishes" (PDF), Recovery Plan for the Native Fishes of the Warner Basin and Alkali Subbasin, Oregon State office, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Portland, Oregon, April 1998, pp. 12–13, 15."Introduced Predaceous Fishes" (PDF), Recovery Plan for the Native Fishes of the Warner basin and Alkali Subbasin, Oregon State office, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Portland, Oregon, April 1998, pp. 28–30."Warner sucker (Catostomus warnerensis)" , United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of Interior, Reno, Nevada, September 8, 2013. To help preserve and restore the lake's threatened fish populations, the Fish and Wildlife Service developed a species recovery plan in 1998.
There are 42 mammal species that live in the areas around Hart Lake. Mammals common in the Hart Lake shoreline and marshes include raccoons, striped skunks, and muskrats.Mammal Checklist Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge , Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of Interior, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, February 1, 2013.
There are 264 species of birds that inhabit the area around Hart Lake or stop at the lake during migration. Species that nest near the lake include sandhill cranes, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, willets, Wilson's phalaropes, gadwalls, northern shovelers, American coots, western grebes, Clark's grebes, black-crowned night herons, Canada geese, mallards, and numerous other varieties of ducks and terns. In addition, white-faced ibis, great white egrets, great blue herons, and American avocets are found in the marshes and along the lake shores. Just north of Hart Lake, at the Warner Wetlands Interpretive Site, there are bird observation blinds maintained by the Bureau of Land Management where American bitterns, black-necked stilts, cinnamon teal, tundra swans, Brewer's blackbirds, western meadowlarks, nighthawks, and several swallow varieties are commonly observed.Douglas, Jeff (producer), "Warner Wetlands" , Oregon Field Guide video (Episode 1005), Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland, Oregon, 1999.
In the meadows and marshes around Hart Lake, dusky flycatchers, yellow warblers, orange-crowned warblers, house wrens, and spotted towhees are common in the summer months. The larger birds common to the Hart Lake area include great horned owls, long-eared owls, turkey vultures, prairie falcons, red-tailed hawks, marsh hawks, golden eagles, and bald eagles.
History
Native Americans used the Warner Valley's lakes and wetlands for thousands of years before the first white explorers arrived. The natives made petroglyphs along the eastern shore of Hart Lake, some of which are dated to 12,000 years ago. The Greaser Petroglyph Site, approximately southeast of Hart Lake, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places."Cultural Resources" (PDF), Summary of the Analysis of the Management Situation for the Lakeview Resource Area – Resource Management Plan, Lakeview Field Office, Lakeview District, Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior, Lakeview, Oregon, July 2000, pp. 2.28–29.
In December 1843, Captain John C. Fremont led a party of explorers through the Warner Valley. Fremont and his party spent Christmas Day camped near Hart Lake. In honor of the date, Fremont named it "Christmas Valley" and the lake "Christmas Lake". However, early mapmakers mistakenly plotted Christmas Valley northwest of its actual location, leaving the valley and its lakes unnamed on early maps.McArthur, Lewis A. and Lewis L. McArthur, "Warner Valley", Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh Edition), Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003, pp. 1010–1011, .
In 1867, General George Crook decided to build a fort in the Warner Valley to prevent Indian raiding parties from passing through the area. To get his wagons across the wetlands, he had a bridge built across a narrow, marshy channel between Hart Lake and Crump Lake."Stone Bridge and the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road", National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, United States Department of Interior, Washington, D.C., August 13, 1974.McArthur, Lewis A. and Lewis L. McArthur, "Stone Bridge", Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh Edition), Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003, p. 916, .Bach, Melva M., "Camp Warner Moved to Honey Creek – 1867" (PDF), History of the Fremont National Forest, Fremont National Forest, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Lakeview, Oregon, 1981, p. 14. Known as the Stone Bridge, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.