Presentation: Butte Biogeography: Tree Distribution in the Mountains of Central Oregon

Tuesday March 26, 7:00 pm
Presentation: Butte Biogeography: Tree Distribution in the Mountains of Central Oregon
Speaker: Bob Earle
Location: East Bend Library, 62080 Dean Swift Road

The presentation will look at disjunct populations of trees in the mountains (popularly called “buttes”) of Central Oregon. While considerable data has been collected about trees in the Cascade Range, less is known about tree species on the smaller mountains of
the high desert of Central Oregon. Through many field trips, the speaker attempted to fill in the missing data. He will discuss possible reasons for the locations of the trees and reveal interesting patterns in tree distribution that he discovered.

Bob Earle is a member of our High Desert Chapter who arrived in Bend during the pandemic and spent many days exploring the buttes in Central Oregon. He teaches Geographic Information Systems and Physical Geography (Landforms, Weather, Climate, Biogeography) at Central Oregon Community College.