Lake Billy Chinook, OregonLake Billy Chinook in central Oregon is now part of The Island, one of six new national natural landmarks designated last week by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. "One of the major goals of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors initiative is to develop a conservation ethic for the 21st century," Salazar said in a statement."By designating these remarkable sites in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington as national natural landmarks, we help establish and pass down to future generations those awe-inspiring places that make America truly beautiful."Located on an isolated plateau at the confluence of the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers, The Island is a 208-acre (84-hectare) site that supports one of the best known and least disturbed examples of native juniper savanna within the Columbia Plateau.The plateau is an arid steppe and grassland that covers portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada, as well as a small piece of northeastern California, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which will jointly manage the site with the U.S. Forest Service.(Related pictures: "Four New Natural Landmarks Named [2009].")

Photograph by Buddy Mays, Alamy