Portal:Pacific Northwest

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The Pacific Northwest Portal

P:PNW

The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Some broader conceptions reach north into Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east into western Montana. Other conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains.

The Northwest Coast is the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest, and the Northwest Plateau (also commonly known as "the Interior" in British Columbia), is the inland region. The term "Pacific Northwest" should not be confused with the Northwest Territory (also known as the Great Northwest, a historical term in the United States) or the Northwest Territories of Canada. The region is sometimes referred to as Cascadia, which, depending on the borders, may or may not be the same thing as the Pacific Northwest.

The region's largest metropolitan areas are Greater Seattle, Washington, with 4 million people; Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, with 2.84 million people; and Greater Portland, Oregon, with 2.5 million people.

The culture of the Pacific Northwest is influenced by the Canada–United States border, which the United States and the United Kingdom established at a time when the region's inhabitants were composed mostly of indigenous peoples. Two sections of the border—one along the 49th parallel south of British Columbia and one between the Alaska Panhandle and northern British Columbia—have left a great impact on the region. According to Canadian historian Ken Coates, the border has not merely influenced the Pacific Northwest—rather, "the region's history and character have been determined by the boundary". (Full article...)

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Level III ecoregions of the Pacific Northwest. The Cascades ecoregion is marked with (4).

The Cascades ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Somewhat smaller than the Cascade mountain range for which it is named, the ecoregion extends north to Snoqualmie Pass, near Seattle, and south to Hayden Pass, near the Oregon-California border, including the peaks and western slopes of most of the High Cascades. A discontiguous section is located on Mount Shasta in California.

The mountainous region is underlain by Cenozoic volcanic rock that has been affected by alpine glaciations. The eastern part of the region contains active and dormant volcanoes in the Cascades Volcanic Arc, with elevations of up to 14,411 feet (4,392 m). The western Cascades are older, lower, and dissected by numerous, steep-sided stream valleys. The region has a moist, temperate climate, which supports an extensive and highly productive coniferous forest that is intensively managed for logging, as well as recreational use. Subalpine meadows occur at higher elevations. (Full article...)

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Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.

Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, and grew up in Springfield, Oregon, graduating from the University of Oregon in 1957. He began writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1960 after completing a graduate fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University; the novel was an immediate commercial and critical success when published two years later. During this period, Kesey participated in CIA-financed studies involving hallucinogenic drugs (including mescaline and LSD) to supplement his income. (Full article...)

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Largest cities of the Pacific Northwest

City	State/Province	Population	Metropolitan Area	Urban Area
Seattle	Washington	704,000^[1]	3,905,026^[2]	3,059,393^[3]
Portland	Oregon	658,347^[2]	2,753,168^[2]	1,849,898^[3]
Vancouver	British Columbia	631,486^[4]	2,737,698^[5]	2,264,823^[6]
Surrey	British Columbia	598,530^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Burnaby	British Columbia	257,926^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Boise	Idaho	226,570^[7]	691,423^[2]	349,684^[3]
Spokane	Washington	222,081^[1]	573,493 ^[8]^[9]	486,225^[3]
Richmond	British Columbia	216,046^[4]	^{[n 1]}	^{[n 1]}
Tacoma	Washington	198,397^[1]	^{[n 2]}	^{[n 2]}
Vancouver	Washington	175,673^[1]	^{[n 3]}	^{[n 3]}

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The following are images from various Pacific Northwest-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Map of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 2May 1915 Lassen Peak eruption column (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 3HMS Discovery was the lead ship used by George Vancouver (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 4Magnetic anomalies around the Juan de Fuca and Gorda Ridges, off the west coast of North America, color coded by age. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 5The Columbia River basalts cover portions of three states (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 6The Coquihalla River in the Canadian Cascades (from Cascade Range)
Image 7Lumen Field, home of Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 8West side view of Mount Shuksan in summer as seen from Artist Point in Washington (from Cascade Range)
Image 9Public transportation is used in the Pacific Northwest region. Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system achieves daily ridership of over 500,000 passengers per day on weekdays and the overall transit ridership levels in the Metro Vancouver area rank third in North America per capita. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 10Map of the Anahim Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 11Pacific Northwest Trail at Blanchard Mountain in Washington (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 12Map of "megacity", showing population density (shades of yellow/brown), highways (red), and major railways (black). Public land shown in shades of green. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 13State Route 302 after the Nisqually earthquake (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 14A map of the Snake River Plain, showing its smooth topography (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 15Mount Edziza, a large shield volcano in northwestern British Columbia (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 16The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (from Cascade Range)
Image 17The Columbia Gorge marks where the Columbia River splits the Cascade Range between the states of Washington and Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 18The Pacific Northwest from outer space. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 19The Cascades range (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 20Lava Butte, Oregon, erupted roughly 5000 years BCE (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 21The Coast Mountains are heavily eroded by glaciers, including Mount Waddington (far background, center). (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 22The Boundary Trail section of the PNT in Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 23Mount Hood is the tallest point in the U.S. state of Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 24Mountain goat on Wallaby Peak in the North Cascades (from Cascade Range)
Image 25A man in Portland, Oregon with Cascadian flag on International Workers' Day, 2012 (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 26The North Cascades are heavily eroded by glaciers (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 27The immense floods created channels that are presently dry, such as the Drumheller Channels (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 28Lassen Peak in the California Cascades. Southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range and part of Lassen Volcanic National Park (from Cascade Range)
Image 29Geology of the Cascade Range-related plate tectonics. (from Cascade Range)
Image 30Oval-leaf blueberry on Mount Pilchuck (from Cascade Range)
Image 31None of the multiple possible definitions of the Pacific Northwest is universally accepted. This map shows three possibilities: (1) The shaded area shows the historical Oregon Country. (2) The green line shows the Cascadia bioregion. (3) The labeled states and provinces include Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 32Mount St. Helens erupts on May 18, 1980 (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 33Image of the Juan de Fuca Plate that produced the magnitude 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake in 1700. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 34The Pacific Northwest from space (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 35Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail overview map (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 36The Golden Hinde on Vancouver Island was formed by erosion carving into basalt. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 37U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition". Philadelphia: 1845 (from Pacific Northwest)

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... that Joan Phillip offered to give any MLAs who were rude to her a whack with her Saskatoon berry stick?
... that a Washington state radio station turned to "professional bikini watchers"—military recruiters—to report on crowds at local beaches?
... that after serving as the speaker of the Oregon Territory House of Representatives, Lafayette Cartee moved to the Idaho Territory where he became a well-known horticulturalist?
... that in 1943, it took the Oregon State Senate 45 ballots to elect William H. Steiwer as president of the senate over fellow Republican Dorothy McCullough Lee?
... that the founding manager of an Oregon radio station named it after his wife's former name?
... that after serving as President of the Oregon State Senate, Brady L. Adams founded BearFest in Grants Pass, Oregon, which featured playful fiberglass bear statues placed around the town?