The Western United States has a higher sex ratio more males than females than any other region in the United States. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became a national issue, agencies of the federal government own and manage vast areas of land.
Forest Service within the Agriculture Department. National parks are reserved for recreational activities such as fishing , camping , hiking , and boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching , logging , and mining.
In recent years, some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use within environmentally acceptable limits. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles , located on the West Coast. Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges , which, while not approaching the scale of the Rocky Mountains , are formidable nevertheless.
They collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean. Beyond the valleys lie the Sierra Nevada in the south and the Cascade Range in the north. Mount Whitney , at 14, feet 4, m the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states, is in the Sierra Nevada.
The Cascades are also volcanic. Mount Rainier , a volcano in Washington, is also over 14, feet 4, m. Mount St. Helens , a volcano in the Cascades erupted explosively in These mountain ranges see heavy precipitation, capturing most of the moisture that remains after the Coast Ranges, and creating a rain shadow to the east forming vast stretches of arid land.
These dry areas encompass much of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert along with other deserts are found here. Beyond the deserts lie the Rocky Mountains. In the north, they run almost immediately east of the Cascade Range, so that the desert region is only a few miles wide by the time one reaches the Canada—US border. The Rockies are hundreds of miles kilometers wide, and run uninterrupted from New Mexico to Alaska.
The Rocky Mountain Region is the highest overall area of the United States, with an average elevation of above 4, feet 1, m. The tallest peaks of the Rockies, 54 of which are over 14, feet 4, m , are found in central and western Colorado. The West has several long rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean , while the eastern rivers run into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River forms the easternmost possible boundary for the West today. The Missouri River , a tributary of the Mississippi, flows from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains eastward across the Great Plains , a vast grassy plateau, before sloping gradually down to the forests and hence to the Mississippi.
The Colorado River is a major source of water in the Southwest and many dams, such as the Hoover Dam , form reservoirs along it. So much water is drawn for drinking water throughout the West and irrigation in California that in most years, water from the Colorado River no longer reaches the Gulf of California. The Platte runs through Nebraska and was known for being a mile 2 km wide but only a half-inch 1 cm deep.
Most of the public land held by the U. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states. Also, the climate of the West is quite unstable, as areas that are normally wet can be very dry for years and vice versa.
The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. Low elevations on the West Coast have warm to very hot summers and get little to no snow. The desert southwest has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The Inland Northwest has a continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitter cold winters.
Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching the Pacific Coast where it increases again. In fact, the greatest annual rainfall in the United States falls in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest.
Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States. The driest place recorded in the U. Violent thunderstorms occur east of the Rockies.
Tornadoes occur every spring on the southern plains, with the most common and most destructive centered on Tornado Alley , which covers eastern portions of the West, Texas to North Dakota , and all states in between and to the east. Agriculture varies depending on rainfall, irrigation, soil, elevation, and temperature extremes. The arid regions generally support only livestock grazing, chiefly beef cattle. The wheat belt extends from Texas through the Dakotas , producing most of the wheat and soybeans in the U.
Irrigation in the Southwest allows the growing of great quantities of fruits, nuts, and vegetables as well as grain, hay, and flowers. Texas is a major cattle and sheep raising area, as well as the nation's largest producer of cotton.
Washington is famous for its apples, and Idaho for its potatoes. California and Arizona are major producers of citrus crops, although growing metropolitan sprawl is absorbing much of this land. Local and state government officials started to understand, after several surveys made during the latter part of the 19th century, that only action by the federal government could provide water resources needed to support the development of the West. Starting in , Congress passed a series of acts authorizing the establishment of the United States Bureau of Reclamation to oversee water development projects in seventeen western states.
During the first half of the 20th century, dams and irrigation projects provided water for rapid agricultural growth throughout the West and brought prosperity for several states, where agriculture had previously only been subsistence level.
The population growth, mostly in the Southwest states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, has strained water and power resources, with water diverted from agricultural uses to major population centers, such as the Las Vegas Valley and Los Angeles. Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper Paleozoic , Mesozoic , and Cenozoic eras. The Rocky Mountains expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the Precambrian and from the Phanerozoic eon.
The Inter-mountain States and Pacific Northwest have huge expanses of volcanic rock from the Cenozoic era. Salt flats and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West. The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States. Earthquakes cause damage every few to several years in California.
While the Pacific states are the most volcanically active areas, extinct volcanoes and lava flows are found throughout most of the West. Pre-Columbian trade routes to kingdoms and empires such as the Mound Builders existed in places such as Yellowstone National Park since around AD. Major settlement of the western territories developed rapidly in the s, largely through the Oregon Trail and the California Gold Rush of California experienced such a rapid growth in a few short months that it was admitted to statehood in without the normal transitory phase of becoming an official territory.
One of the largest migrations in American history occurred in the s as the Latter Day Saints left the Midwest to build a theocracy in Utah. Both Omaha, Nebraska and St. Louis, Missouri laid claim to the title, "Gateway to the West" during this period.
Louis built itself upon the vast fur trade in the West before its settlement. The s were marked by political battles over the expansion of slavery into the western territories, issues leading to the Civil War.
The history of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has acquired a cultural mythos in the literature and cinema of the United States. The image of the cowboy , the homesteader , and westward expansion took real events and transmuted them into a myth of the west which has shaped much of American popular culture since the late 19th century. Writers as diverse as Bret Harte and Zane Grey celebrated or derided cowboy culture, while artists such as Frederic Remington created western art as a method of recording the expansion into the west.
The American cinema , in particular, created the genre of the western movie , which, in many cases, use the West as a metaphor for the virtue of self-reliance and an American ethos.
The contrast between the romanticism of culture about the West and the actuality of the history of the westward expansion has been a theme of late 20th and early 21st century scholarship about the West. Cowboy culture has become embedded in the American experience as a common cultural touchstone, and modern forms as diverse as country and western music have celebrated the sense of isolation and independence of spirit inspired by the frontiersmen on virgin land.
The advent of the automobile enabled the average American to tour the West. The Pacific Ocean provides delicious seafood such as salmon, shellfish, and oysters, which are very popular in the region. Because of the many Chinese and Japanese immigrants, Asian foods such as sushi, chow mein, and egg foo young are popular in the West. If you travel to Hawaii, you can expect to partake in a pig roast, or a luau. Because of its close proximity to the beautiful coast, the West is known for surfing.
Many other outdoor activities include hiking, mountain climbing, and kayaking. In the winter, skiing and snowboarding are popular, and many people travel to the various ski resort towns in Colorado and Utah. In Alaska, dogsledding is a popular sport, and in Hawaii, a dance called the hula is known around the world.
The West is an incredible place for tourists for many reasons. Some people travel to Hawaii and parts of California for the sunshine and the beaches, while others enjoy skiing in Colorado and Utah. Mostly in Wyoming, the park covers over 3, square miles and had over 4 million visitors in ! The Space Needle, located in the heart of Seattle, Washington, is one of the most photographed structures in the world.
It was built for the World Fair and is feet tall. People from all over the world travel to Los Angeles, California to see the sets where movies are made, and maybe even bump into a celebrity! Our country is filled with diverse culture, land, attractions, and so much more.
The regions of our country are all different in so many ways, and it is important for students to understand how and why. While studying the West region, students will show what they have learned through posters, spider maps, and other creative graphic organizers. The combined use of illustrations and words allows students with different learning styles to showcase their work in unique ways. Teachers may use the provided templates, or encourage students to start from scratch, allowing for more of a challenge and differentiated approach.
Teachers may also assign an extension activity where the students write a report or create a powerpoint of all their storyboards to share. Schedule a free Guided Session with us to become a Storyboard That pro! Each version of Storyboard That has a different privacy and security model that is tailored for the expected usage. All storyboards are public and can be viewed and copied by anyone.
They will also appear in Google search results. The author can choose to leave the storyboard public or mark it as Unlisted. Unlisted storyboards can be shared via a link, but otherwise will remain hidden. All storyboards and images are private and secure. No one else can view anything.
Teachers may opt to lower the security if they want to allow sharing.
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