BOB BENSON Page 32 RAIN September/October 1985 Pacific Cascadia Bioregion Report many of the words commonly used to describe the region. While we found that some of them, such as Olympasi- fia, Columbicatimeland, and Mountpa- cificaland, didn't exactly roll off the toungue, a few, such as Norwestia, Maricadia, and Pacificadia, seemed to have some potential. The same reader, with tongue firmly in cheek, also suggested Rainopia, which was a real hit around here. The most interesting response we got was from Dave McCloskey and Jim Riley, a couple of bioregionalist friends from Puget Sound (Ish River Province) who have been doing much to promote bioregional wisdom in their area. They sent a lengthy letter that displayed a remarkable knowledge of the biological, geological, and climatalogical characteristics of this region. These guys really know where they're at! Unfortunately, we don't have the space to reprint their letter in full, but we can include a few passages: "There are many bioregions in the Pacific Northwest—perhaps seventy different ones. So you might consider making the title of your report plural —that is, 'Pacific Northwest Bioregions Report,' and invite comment from each area.... "If bioregionalism is to serve as a fundamental perspective, then we need to think more clearly, concretely, and comprehensively about what constitutes a bioregion, and where they fit in 'the scheme of things.' "We need a heuristic for 'finding home'—a nested series of relationships which integrally link person to planet. We've found it useful to think in terms of seven basic levels: 1) Person—Neighborhood, 2) Neighborhood—Community (town, city), 3) Community—Watershed, 4) Watershed—Bioregion, 5) Bioregion—Region, 6) Region—Continental Slope (plate)/ Ocean Rim, 7) Slope/Rim—Planet. "For instance, one of us lives on top of Queen Anne Hill (1) in Seattle (2), on the Duwamish/Snohomish flood- plain (3), in Ish River Province (4), in Cascadia (5), on the North Pacific slope of the North American continent (or on the Northeastern Pacific Rim) (6), Planet Earth (7). "These are the successive contexts On a rare day ofpartid dearing cbuds separate to revecd the Maritime Nortftwest. On the eastj the Cascade Range protects itfrom the tfiirsty Plateau. On tfie west is the Pacijic. WOOP I m /hj .0/, Ofli. A*. 'PlC% A(1 \ 'V ■Ky Ol^ /V \Cc fs Soutfiward tfie 5isfeiyous amf Trinity A^s palisade the Maritime Nortftwest against the bare brown hills and burning plains of California. Northward, though maritime climate persists, agriculture ceases, turned bach by mountains thatrise from the What's In a Name? In our May/June issue we invited our readers to help "name our bioregion." Although the overall response was somewhat underwhelming, some of the responses we got were nonetheless interesting. One reader suggested that we look to the Native American languages indigenous to the region for a name. Following up on this suggestion, Steve Manthe> a RAIN friend working with the Portland Farmers Market, suggested "Chinook." Chinook is the name of a native salmon, a Native American tribe indigenous to the region, and also a Native American trade jargon used widely throughout the region. Chinook is also the name of the warm, moist southwesterly winds that bring us much of our weather. However, Steve defined "Chinook" as an area much smaller than that shown on our map, excluding both the Willamette Valley and Puget Sound. Another reader generated a whole list of possible names by combining
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