volkgraphics.com < Living in Cascadia

I like to tell people I live in paradise. My home is in the Portland metro area, on the great Columbia, near Mt. Hood. It takes only an hour's drive from the heart of Portland to reach a scenic spot by a wild river.

It is only 2 hours to Oregon Coast beaches.

This is CASCADIA - an area of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, from the Cascade mountain range to the Pacific Coast, rich in natural beauty, with great forests and waterways rushing down its peaks to fertile valleys.

Cascadia is as much a wild natural spirit as it is a regional area. It is an ecosystem of sunshine and rain, and the movement of waterfalls and rivers, birds, native bees, animals, fish, insects, seeds and pollen on the wind. It is abundant with majestic trees, wild flowers and eatable Native plants including roots, mushrooms, greens, berries, nuts, providing sustenance for many life forms.

But here, Cascadia is getting a lot of use these days, getting trampled and trashed. A lot more people are moving in. Travelers and adventurers are often guilty of invasive visiting, impacting the integrity of the natural environment just for a fun time. We are all travelers in our way, whether merely through life, or on the roads. How we see and move through the world matters. Tread lightly. Respect and protect the natural and wild elements. Indeed, these systems enhance the quality of our lives and sustain us all.     mvolk@volkgraphics.com

Townsend Warbler
River Grove, OR
photo © mvolk 2007

Living in Cascadia
Favorites Links:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cascadia
cascadia related links
Oregon Natural Resources Council
Friends of Forest Park
www.nwhiker.com
Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center
Willamette Riverkeepers
NW Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
www.watoxics.org
www.beyondpesticides.org