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Cascadia is....

Cascadia is that land and thought at the edge of the worlds. Some have called Cascadia a "state of mind" while others point out that Cascadia is a real place defined by its geology, biodiversity and shared communities. Cascadia does often appear as the eternal Terra Incognito (the land of the unknown) that is shrouded in mystery just outside of the mind and geography, but it is that sense of mystique that makes Cascadia such a unique and real place.

Nestled between the North Pacific Ocean and the Continental Divide of the North American Continent lays a complex region formed from ongoing geological events and continuous climatic factors. Several regional mountain ranges catch the moisture of the Pacific as it passes on its way east. The Columbia, the Willamette and the Frazer rivers with their contributaries and other riparian systems cut through the basalt and granite mountains of this region providing rich alluvium soil. The region can be defined by this great water cycle that is powered and fed back into the Pacific Ocean. All the regional rivers, streams and creeks eventually flow back towards the Pacific. The region's farthest eastern frontiers lay on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains where the spring melt begins its return to the Pacific. This is a region rich in biodiversity, history and cultures. It is a land that is shaped by geologic, oceanic, climatic and perceptional forces.

Today sociologists, geographers and ecologists are redefining regions based on the commonality of the ecological systems and the human interactions within geographic systems called bioregions. The North Eastern Pacific east to the continetal divide is called Cascadia. The Cascadian bioregion encompassing the territories of the Alaskan Panhandle, British Columbia, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, northern California and western Montana as well as very small portions of other near by states and provinces. Cascadia is geographically the Columbia River Watershed and the area around the Cascade Range. Cascadia's farthest extent is from northern California to the Alaskan Panhandle and from the Pacific to the Continental Divide.