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, 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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Downtown Port Townsend, seen from the water

Port Townsend /ˈtaʊnzənd/ is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County.

In addition to its natural scenery at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula, the city is known for the many Victorian buildings remaining from its late 19th-century heyday, numerous annual cultural events, and as a maritime center for independent boatbuilders and related industries and crafts. The Port Townsend Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District. It is also significantly drier than the surrounding region due to being in the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains, receiving only 19 inches or 480 millimeters of rain per year. (Full article...)

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Dosanjh in 2011

Ujjal Dev Dosanjh, PC KC (/ˈuːdʒəl doʊˈsɑːndʒ/; Punjabi: ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ; born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of health from 2004 until 2006, when the party lost government. He then served in the Official Opposition from January 2006 until 2011. Dosanjh was one of four visible minorities to serve in Paul Martin's Ministry.

Prior to being involved in federal politics, he spent ten years in provincial politics. He was elected in the Vancouver-Kensington riding in 1991 as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) and re-elected there in 1996. He served as the Attorney General of British Columbia from August 1995 to February 2000. When the leader of his party resigned in 1999, Dosanjh put himself forward as a candidate and won the leadership vote. With the win he became Canada's first Indo-Canadian provincial leader. He served as the 33rd Premier of British Columbia until June 2001 when he lost the province's general election. He was the last NDP premier of the province until John Horgan was elevated to the position in 2017. (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 1West side view of Mount Shuksan in summer as seen from Artist Point in Washington (from Cascade Range)
Image 2Notable volcanoes in the US portion of the Cascades (from Cascade Range)
Image 3U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' 1841 Map of the Oregon Territory from "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition". Philadelphia: 1845 (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 4Map of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 5Mount Edziza, a large shield volcano in northwestern British Columbia (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 6The Pacific Northwest from space (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 7The Pacific Northwest from outer space. (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 8The Boundary Trail section of the PNT in Horseshoe Basin, Pasayten Wilderness (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 9Lumen Field, home of Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 10The North Cascades are heavily eroded by glaciers (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 11Map of the Anahim Volcanic Belt centers. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 12Mount Hood is the tallest point in the U.S. state of Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 13May 1915 Lassen Peak eruption column (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 14Lassen Peak in the California Cascades. Southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range and part of Lassen Volcanic National Park (from Cascade Range)
Image 15A map of the Snake River Plain, showing its smooth topography (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 16Mountain goat on Wallaby Peak in the North Cascades (from Cascade Range)
Image 17The immense floods created channels that are presently dry, such as the Drumheller Channels (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 18State Route 302 after the Nisqually earthquake (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 19Map 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 20Public 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 21The Coast Mountains are heavily eroded by glaciers, including Mount Waddington (far background, center). (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 22None 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 23The Golden Hinde on Vancouver Island was formed by erosion carving into basalt. (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 24A man in Portland, Oregon with Cascadian flag on International Workers' Day, 2012 (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 25Geology of the Cascade Range-related plate tectonics. (from Cascade Range)
Image 26The Columbia River basalts cover portions of three states (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 27Lava Butte, Oregon, erupted roughly 5000 years BCE (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 28The Cascades range (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 29Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail overview map (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 30HMS Discovery was the lead ship used by George Vancouver (from Pacific Northwest)
Image 31Pacific Northwest Trail at Blanchard Mountain in Washington (from Pacific Northwest Trail)
Image 32The Columbia Gorge marks where the Columbia River splits the Cascade Range between the states of Washington and Oregon. (from Cascade Range)
Image 33The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (from Cascade Range)
Image 34The Coquihalla River in the Canadian Cascades (from Cascade Range)
Image 35Oval-leaf blueberry on Mount Pilchuck (from Cascade Range)
Image 36Image 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 37Mount St. Helens erupts on May 18, 1980 (from Geology of the Pacific Northwest)
Image 38Magnetic 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)

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... that the flightless suliforme Klallamornis likely went extinct when the volcanic islands it used for shelter along the coast of the Pacific Northwest eroded away into the Pacific Ocean?
... that the closest modern fern relatives to Dennstaedtia christophelii of the Pacific Northwest are tropical species from South America?
... that women- and minority-owned businesses built the Frequent Express high-capacity bus line in Portland, Oregon?
... that Joan Phillip offered to give any MLAs who were rude to her a whack with her Saskatoon berry stick?
... that for 25 years after an attempt to explode a whale went awry, the Oregon TV station that filmed it regularly fielded requests for its footage?
... that the Eocene Okanagan Highlands span approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) through British Columbia and Washington?