You'll cross Catlow Valley before entering the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. Hart Mountain is home to antelope, deer and California bighorn sheep. Bring someone you love, and do it soon. Life's too short and southeast Oregon is too beautiful to waste. Burns and neighboring Hines is a transportation hub for the region and a business center for Oregon's largest county.
Cattle are still big business on the century-old ranches south of Burns.
Although modern machinery is part of today's scene, you can still see traditional old west cattle drives in the Blitzen Valley. Malheur Lake , a major nesting and feeding stop on the Pacific Flyway, is the centerpiece of 183,000 acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge . Nearly 250 species have been counted on the refuge, which is 32 miles south of Burns off Oregon Highway 205. The refuge headquarters on the south shore of the lake includes a museum displaying nearly 200 mounted bird specimens. Since the rise of the mud in Harney Lakes, the birds have had to find new habitat.