The Atlantic Periphery

              Like Washington, the Atlantic Periphery contains a long mountain range running through the area.  Washington has the Cascade Range running through the center of the state while the Atlantic Periphery is part of the Appalachian Mountain chain.  Parts of Washington have also been effected by glaciation like most of the Atlantic Periphery has.  Also like Washington, much of the land is useless for agriculture.  Washington has patches to the east where there is farming but it's difficult to find these in the Atlantic Periphery.  The Atlantic Periphery can experience heavy snowfall and sometimes blizzards.  The Pacific Northwest also experiences heavy snowstorms.  In the winter months, both regions experience below freezing temperatures as well as heavy rainfall. 

            The Atlantic Periphery, like Washington, has an abundance of large forests and large quantities of offshore fishing and marine animals.  Fishing is still a major part of the economy for both regions.  Lobsters are fished from the Atlantic Periphery by the millions of pounds averaging $285 million annually.  Even though Washington still has a heavy reliance on logging and fishing, tourism and high technology is becoming a major source of income.  More and more people are traveling to Washington and the Pacific Northwest for hiking, backpacking, and other outdoor activities.  The Atlantic Periphery's economy is still oriented toward their natural resources.  These two regions do have a lot in common because of their geographic locations.   

The North American Political Economy (w/ video)

         Washington has been and will always be a place of very important primary sector occupation.  The fishing and logging that takes place here is an essential part of Washington's economy.  Commercial fishing has been part of Washington since about 1792 when the Columbia River was discovered (Harrison, 2008).  Explorers saw great potential when they discovered the large amount of salmon in the river.  They began to export the salmon to Boston's harbor but the preservation of fish and import taxes made it a financial obstacle (Harrison, 2008).  After the development of canned salmon came along, the number of commercial fishing on the Columbia grew exponentially from 100 boats in 1872 to 1,500 in 1881 (Harrison, 2008).  Now in the 21st Century, non-tribal commerical fisheries can bring in about $148.3 million in income alone (Radtke, 2011).  In 2006, there were 3,520 people employed in this industry.  More recently, there has been an economic contribution of $1.84 billion dollars employing almost 15,000 primary sector workers (Radtke, 2011). 

        Washington has also had a long history of logging.  Since the early 1800s, Washington's forests have been harvested for its valuable timber for housing, building cities, and exporting (History, 2013).  By the late 1820s, the region saw it's first saw mill and by 1890, Washington was producing 1 billion board feet of wood a year (History, 2013).  Although logging is a major part of Washington's economy today, there was more trees being logged in the early 20th century than there is today.  Today, the logging industry has been hit hard with the current recession the United States and other parts of the world have been going through.  Manufacturing has been a weak link (DNR, 2012) and this can slow down the primary sector of Washington's economy.  The price of lumber that the mill is willing to pay has been going down in recent years as well (DNR, 2012).  Another part of Washington's economy has been in the quaternary sector.  High-technology industries have been prevalent in areas where there are major research universities, including the University of Washington.  Seattle is also home to the western headquarters for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA's) research centers.    

*This is a video of History's televsision series "Ax Men".  The first six and a half minutes shows how logging is done by Port Angeles, WA's Rygaard Logging Co.

http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/videos/playlists/season-4-full-episodes#ax-men-alaska

http://www.rhppublishing.com/smbc/attachments/SMBC%20Washington%20Total%20Commercial%20Fisheries%204.pdf  

http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/commercialfishing.asp 

http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/articles/history-of-logging  

Historical Settlement of North America

             Washington State was part of the Oregon Territory unit 1848.  There after, the United States took control of the area from Spain, Russia, and Great Britain.  Washington, along with the Pacific Northwest region has held dense populations since the time of the first explorers.  Settlement patterns tended to be located where there was an abundance of resources.  For example, aboriginal residence occupied the northwest region for its marine resource which also resulted in complex belief systems and rituals.  In the later years after the arrival of Europeans, the abundance of quality timber had attracted loggers from across the country.  Prior to the discovery of Washington's large trees, loggers were producing large amounts of wood out of Maine and other states on the east coast (History, 2013).  By the mid 1800's, logging was proving to be a possibility for economic development in the previously occupied Native American lands.  Around the same time in 1862, Lincoln's Homestead Act tempted unemployed loggers from the Midwest to migrate West (History, 2013).  They quickly found that the Pacific Northwest was the place to harvest quality timber. 

            By the the 1890's and into the 20th century, Washington was holding the record for producing timber at a rate of 1 billion board feet annually (History, 2013).  In 1905, Washington had become the top lumber-producing state in America (History, 2013).  Washington hit it's all-time high producing 7.6 billion board feet 1926 (starting the 21st century only producing 4.1 in comparison) (History, 2013).  Despite the massive changes throughout history, there are still large Native American lands in Washington although mostly toward the east which consist mostly of grasslands and desert.  Now-a-days, migration and settlement patterns have shifted slightly in the United States.  Instead of immigrants settling in large cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, they are now settling in second-tier cities such as Dallas, Texas and Seattle, Washington.  This has also been the result of the recession that began in 2008.  New immigrants have been moving to cities, like Seattle, that have not been effected dramatically by the recession in addition to increasing numbers during the past decade.  We shall see where new migration patters will bloom in the upcoming decade. 

http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/articles/history-of-logging  

North America's Enviornmental Setting

               The state of Washington is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  It is located in the Columbia drainage basin that drains its runoff precipitation out into the Pacific Ocean (WRCC, 2013).  Washington has different influences controlling it's climate such as the rugged terrain, the Pacific Ocean to the West and the high and low pressures sitting over the North Pacific Ocean (WRCC, 2013).  There is high precipitation along the west coast of the state west of the Cascade Mountains.  This area of Washington receives the front of storms coming off of the Pacific Ocean, pouring on average of 150 inches of rain during the winter months (WRCC, 2013).  Most of the winter, you can expect winds blowing over 100 m.p.h at high elevations (WRCC, 2013).  The high mountains in Washington cause a lot air cooling and warming which causes the extremely wet conditions on the west and dry conditions on the east. 

              Washington contains at lease three different major soil types: Andisols, Mollisols, and Ultisols which can provide  many nutrients for the different types of trees that thrive here (WRCC, 2013).  Most of the state is covered by needleleaf evergreen forest with some grassland to the east.  In Washington, and all throughout the pacific northwest, you can find the tallest trees in the world (WRCC, 2013).  Logging industries harvest tree species such as Douglas fir, spruce, hemlock and cedar (WRCC, 2013).  There are few "old growth" forests left in this region but now most of area consists of secondary, replanted, trees for future harvesting.  On the east side of Washington you can find the major agricultural area.  This area is ideal for grazing, growing berries, growing vegetables, and growing seed potatoes and grass (WRCC, 2013).

                 Glaciation occurred in the Pre-Holocene era about 2 million years ago (Driedger et. al., 2010).  The continental glacier stretched down into the northern area of Washington but left no significant impact like the Great Lakes in the northeast.  There are also three major faults that run through the state: Lake/Boundary Creek Fault, South Whidby Island Fault, and Boulder Creek Fault (Driedger et. al., 2010).  The Cascade Mountain Range, which runs from California into Vancouver, Canada, runs straight through Washington.  These mountains, which cause the high precipitation in the state, were formed by the colliding of the North American Plate and the Juan De Fuca Plate(Driedger et. al., 2010).  The heavier Juan De Fuca Plate rides under the North American Plate and has pushed continental crust over 14,000 feet above sea level (Driedger et. al., 2010).  In Washington resides on of the most famous volcanoes in North America, Mount Saint Helens.  Most of Mount St. Helens is no older than 3,000 years old (Driedger et. al., 2010).  The latest eruptions, which occurred from 2004 to 2008, caused the volcano to settle half an inch from the removal of magma (Driedger et. al., 2010).  This amazing natural creation has been known to shoot volcanic ash to over 80,000 feet in as little as 15 minutes (Driedger et. al., 2010).  Native Americans abandoned this area because of the constant enormous eruptions of  Mount St. Helens.         

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/WASHINGTON.htm            

Driedger, Carolyn, Westby, Liz, Faust, Lisa, Frenzen, Peter, Bennett, Jeanne, and Clynne, Michael, 2010, 30 Cool Facts about Mount St. Helens: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 103 (poster).   
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/103/