Columbia River Basin

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Columbia River Basin

Section 1: Introducing the Columbia River Basin

What do you get when you put together a flowing river, with a beautiful mountain, and a rolling valley? The result is the amazing Columbia River Basin. The Columbia River is the sculptor that carved the Interior Columbia River Basin. The Columbia River Basin is made up of many different environments, and contains many different organisms. Mountains, high plateaus, desert basins, river valleys, rolling uplands, and deep gorges woven together by the Columbia River and its tributaries make up the whole Columbia River Basin.

People have been drawn to the big and beautiful Columbia River Basin for thousands of years. During the last century, natural resource-based industries supported small, growing communities. Today, people still appreciate the basin's rural flavor and quality of life.

There are many beautiful places in this wonderful area of Oregon. In fact the whole basin was deemed a National Scenic Area. Besides the whole area there are two others natural areas that are very prominent. Among its many waterfalls Kalamath Falls is by far the most breathtaking. Not only can you enjoy the waterfall its self but also if you look hard enough you can see life happening all around you. If you travel up a lot higher you will see the natural trademark of the Pacific Northwest, Mt. Hood. With its 11,239 feet of beauty, what’s not to love? This amazing mountain is not only a natural area, but an area for recreation as well. From the river bellow to the mountains above the Columbia River Basin has a lot to offer.

Section 2: Population Centers

Most of the time, where humans gather, the surrounding landscape is altered in some way or another. Hu...

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... North America, steelheads are found in Pacific Ocean drainage from southern California through Alaska. In Oregon they are found throughout the Columbia River. The major factor causing steelhead population decline is freshwater habitat loss and degradation. This has resulted from three main factors: inadequate stream flows, blocked access to historic spawning and rearing areas due to dams, and human activities that discharge sediment and debris into waterways.

Bibliography:

1) Oregon’s Living Landscape: Strategies and opportunities to conserve bio-diversity, by the Oregon Diversity Project.

2) Endangered Plants and Animals of Oregon, by the Agriculture Experiment Station at Oregon State University.

3) Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems, by the National Research Council.

4) California’s Salomon and Steelhead, by Alan Lufkin.

5) www.cce.paisley.ac.uk

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