You left out the SOUTHWESTERN and Columbia Gorge regions, I
would consider the Palouse to be Southeastern. But you are very right in
the comment about the political as well as ecological differences that
these regions have. Here in Southwestern Washington, our news on radio
and television come out of Oregon. On the P.B.S. television station we
watch "Outdoor Idaho" and "Oregon Field Guide", I don't even know if
there is a Washington State version of these programs. We know the
politicians of Oregon better than those that we vote for.
The range of habitats within each of any sub-regions that we
might conceive of is evident in the County bird checklists.
Wilson Cady
Washougal, WA.
gorgebirds at juno.com
360-835-5947 gorgebirds at juno.com

On Tue, 14 Apr 1998 18:19:26 -0700 (PDT) Deb Beutler
<dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu> writes:
> One thing has been bothering me for the last five years (since
>I
>moved to Washington). Why do we only divide the state into two
>regions?
>People often talk about Western Washington, meaning anything west of
>the
>Cascade Crest, and Eastern Washington, everything east of the Cascade
>Crest). Clearly there is a political and ecological difference
>between the
>east side and west side of the Cascades (rain shadows are powerful
>things).
>However, by that division, eastern Washington covers most of the state
>and
>includes and incredible diversity of habitats from the sagebrush
>coulees and
>potholes area, the slackwater (formerly riverine) habitats along the
>Columbia and Snake Rivers, the wheat deserts of the Palouse, the apple
>deserts of the Tri-Cities area and and the pine forests of
>northeastern
>Washington.
>
> On Tweeters, the vaguenes of east vs. west can cause problems.
>Often people ask for good places to bird in "eastern Washington" and I
>never
>know what to tell them (except "Avoid the Palouse"). Are they talking
>about
>the dry central part, the wetter northern pine forests or the wheat
>desert?
>Other times, people are reporting their trip just east of the Crest
>and put
>"Eastern Washington" in the subject line. It isn't one giant region
>over here.
>
> What do you think? What would be a good classification for
>Washington? We could have Western Washington (possible divided into
>Puget
>Sound, Olympic Pennisula, South Coast, Cascades), South Central
>Washington
>(east of the Cascades to around the Potholes region), North Central
>Washington (Okanogan region), Northeastern Washington (forested
>regions from
>Grand Coulee west to Idaho South to Spokane) and Southwestern
>Washington
>(including the Palouse, Snake River area, etc.) That is just my
>classification. What is yours? You can respond to me directly or to
>the
>list at large.
>
>Just wondering
>Deb
>
>Deb Beutler
>Department of Zoology
>P.O. Box 644236
>Washington State Univerisity
>Pullman (Whitman Co.), WA 99164-4236
>dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu
>
>

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