GEOG 355  -  Fall Quarter 2003

Geography of the Pacific Northwest

Map Exercise 1

Assignment due October 23

Please complete the following:

1. Locate and name the highest and lowest points of land in each of the three states.
    You should print out this map and use it to mark the locations and then hand it in,
    and for each location the latitude and longitude coordinates written in the margin.

2. Conduct a straight line transect across the region from Cape Flattery to Lolo Pass.  Imagine yourself traversing
this line from west to east, at 1,000 feet above the ground.  Describe the sequence of what you would see in terms
of landforms, including particular mountains, plains, plateaus, and deserts, etc., water bodies, and plant life, while
relating your visual encounters to physiographic province, climate, ecoregion, and vegetation zones.  To provide
geographical reference points you may mention any towns and cities you pass by, but do not attempt to describe
agricultural or other land use patterns.  Assume natural vegetation cloaks the landscape.   You can take in sights
about 25 miles to either side of your trajectory, resulting in a transect that is 50 miles wide.    Of course, distant
points of higher elevation may occasionally enter your field of vision, but stay focused on your fifty mile wide path.

3. Conduct the same straight line dimensional transect on a west to east course from Cape Blanco to Pocatello.

For #2 and #3, a narrative text will suffice, but if you wish you may hand in additional maps with your own notations.
 

There are a number of helpful maps stored in a large manila folder marked "GEOG 355 - Map Exercises"
located on top of the map cabinets on the right (south) side of the map library as you walk in.  Please do not
make any marks on these maps, and return all the maps you remove from this folder back to the folder when
you are finished with them, so that everybody may be able to find them there.

Feel free to use additional cartographic resources stored at the map library, posted on the internet,
in your texts, or in your own possession.

Some useful web links:

Explanation of latitude and longitude

Raisz landform map of the Northwest

Raisz landform map of the U.S.

Make a map interactive site from the National Atlas

UW Map Collection and Cartographic Information Services

Pacific Northwest as viewed from space

EPA Region 10 Environmental Atlas

Washington average annual precipitation

Washington vegetation zones

Washington map with major lakes and rivers

Oregon map with major lakes and rivers

Idaho map with major lakes and rivers

ESRI Conservation Program Resources

Rangelands of the western U.S.

Pacific Northwest ecoregions

NBII Geospatial Data
 
 


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