September/October 1985 RAIN Page 33 in which we live. From such a nested series of natural relaHonships, perhaps we can locate 'where we're at/ and rediscover how to dwell at home in the world.... "... We have taken to calling Puget Sound a part of 'Ish River Province/ our bioregion. Here we follow the poets and native peoples of this place, the Coast Salish, who gave their own names to many of the rivers—Duwam- ish, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Samish, Squamish, and so on. Robert Sund's fine book of poetry, Ish River, should be read by all. "Ish River is shaped like a great waterbird arcing in flight to the northwest. Its body is Puget Sound, its wings are the Straight of Juan de Fuca and the great Fraser River, and its long, curving neck is the Straight of Georgia. "The boundaries of Ish River bioregion are simple; from the crest of the Olympics and Insular Ranges on the west to the crest of the Cascades and B.C. Coast Ranges on the east; from below Olympia in the south to around Campbell River-Desolation Sound halfway up Vancouver Island to the north...." The letter also addresses the question of whether to call Puget Sound and the Willamette Valley part of the same bioregion. After describing many biogeographical similarities, they argue that each area possesses many distinctive qualities that serve to differentiate them. They cite slightly different climate, the higher humidity of the Sound, the fact that the Sound was cut by glaciers that never reached as far south as the Willamette Valley and the effects of this difference on the soils, and so on. It was altogether a very insightful letter. Yet despite Dave and Jim's useful distinctions, we at RAIN continue to think in terms of the area shown on the map on this page (in Dave and Jim's terms, this would be larger than a bioregion but smaller than a region, which for them extends to the crest of the Rockies). While we recognize that there are some bioregional differences here, overall there are enough similarities to make it feel like one place. And, for the time being anyway, we're going to call this place "Pacific Casca- dia." Events and developments in this area have been and will continue to be the focus of this report, which does not mean we will exclude news from Hanford, Spokane, or the Sikiyous (after all, if "bioregion" is not to become a conceptual straightjacket. we must think in terms of "soft borders"). However, since most of our contacts are west of the Cascades, this will naturally be the area from which we draw most of our news. And hopefully, due to our emphasis on model projects and "cutting edge" developments, this section should continue to be of interest to readers living in other regions as well. Infotmation Highways The Oregon Graduate Center is completing a three-month jwoject called "Information Highways: Mapping Information Delivery in the Northwest." Supported by the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust, the project is creating a graphic atlas of the elaborate network of information delivery systems in our region. The atlas will include maps of cable systems, micro- wave transmission systems (especially interactive systems used for educational and library applications), satellite linkages available to Northwest users, special telephone networks, including the newly formed LATAs of Pacific Northwest Bell, and the increasing use of Local Area Networks (LANs), academic and public libraries, and all of the transportation systems used for surface and air document delivery. The Information Highways project will give all of us a fresh look at our region's response to the "information age" by providing a visual summary of the available delivery systems. The maps will be accompanied by "descriptive boxes" that will provide tabular and simple explanations of key findings (listings of cable network capabilities, and definitions of terms like "LATA" and "twisted pair"). For more information about the project, call Dr. Larry Murr at the Oregon Graduate Center, 503/645-1121. Ashland Greens Green politics has found a home in Ashland, Oregon, with the founding of the Ashland Green Movement, which gained public visibility by marching in Ashland's annual Fourth of July parade. The group has set up seven committees to carry out its work: a Coordinating Committee for coordinating activities within the group and networking with other Green parties; a Bioregional Modeling Committee to draw up a plan for the region; a Town Meeting Committee to organize local meetings with other Greens in the area; a Pamphlet Committee to draft a statement of purpose and identity; a Speakers Bureau to provide Green speakers to other groups; a Spiritual Values Committee to help implement "new age" spiritual values in a practical way; a Big Mountain Committee to disseminate information about the Big Mountain conflict; and a Central American Committee to deal with refugees and U.S. relations with Central America. Committees meet weekly; monthly general meetings are planned. For more information, call 503/488-0645. (Adapted horn Siskiyou Country, August/September 1985.) Spotted Owl May Save Old Growth The northern spotted owl is known to be dependent on old growth forest for its survival. Since it is offically listed as "threatened," this small inhabitant of Northwest forests has received close scrutiny as part of the National Forest Planning Process currently underway in all Northwest national forests. The Forest Service has developed a plan to preserve a network of 1,000- acre Spotted Owl Management Areas (SOMAs) throughout the Northwest. However, Forest Service plans for spotted owl management have been widely criticized by wildlfe specialists and organizations. Now, for the first time, the prospect of extinction has been raised.
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