Palouse

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Palouse hill northeast of Walla Walla

The Palouse is a region in the northwestern United States . It includes parts of eastern Washington , north-central Idaho and, in some definitions, northeastern Oregon . The Palouse is one of the most important wheat-producing areas in the USA. Located about 250 kilometers north of the Oregon Trail , the region experienced rapid growth towards the end of the 19th century, so that the population even exceeded that of the area around Puget Sound - that is, around Seattle .

Geography and history

The origin of the name Palouse is unclear. One theory explains it through an exchange of the name of the people of the Palouse (in early reports as Palus , Palloatpallah , Pelusha , among others ) by French-Canadian fur traders with the French pelouse meaning "land with short and thick grass". Over time, the spelling changed to Palouse. Another theory suggests that it was first the French name in question for the area, and that the name was only later applied to the Indian tribe who inhabited the area.

The hills of the Palouse south of the University of Idaho Arboretum in Moscow , Idaho

The region of the Palouse has traditionally been defined as the area of ​​fertile hills and prairies north of the Snake River , which separates it from Walla Walla Country, north of the Clearwater River , which separates it from the Camas Prairie , north along the Washington border and Idaho, and south of Spokane centered around the Palouse River . This region, originally developed from Walla Walla Country south of the Snake River, experienced a strong boom in population and the extent of wheat cultivation in the 1880s. The community of the same name as the region Palouse is located in Whitman County , about 11 km west of Potlatch in Idaho.

While this definition of palouse is the most common today, in some cases the term is extended to the entire wheat growing region. It then also includes Walla Walla County , Camas Prairie in Idaho, the Big Bend area in the central Columbia River Plateau, and other smaller agricultural areas in Asotin County and Umatilla Counties . This broader definition is used, for example, by the World Wide Fund for Nature , which defines the ecoregion of the Palouse grasslands very broadly.

In any event, the traditional definition of the Palouse is different from the older Walla Walla region south of the Snake River, where the feasibility of dry farming wheat was first demonstrated in the 1860s . In the 1870s, Walla Walla quickly turned the area into arable land, while at the same time the first experiments began in the Palouse, traditionally reserved for cattle and sheep. When these attempts proved very successful, the region quickly filled with arable farmers during the 1880s. In addition, the region was opened up by the railroad ( Northern Pacific Railway ) in the 1880s , which accelerated growth. By 1890 almost all of the Palouse's free land had been developed for wheat cultivation.

Hill of the Palouse

In contrast to the Walla Walla region, which was firmly anchored around the city of Walla Walla , the Palouse formed four centers that are only a few miles apart: Colfax (the oldest center), Palouse, Pullman and Moscow . These four centers, together with at least ten smaller sub-centers, created a diffuse urban settlement pattern in contrast to Walla Walla Country.

In some definitions of the region, the cities on the border of the Palouse are also included in it, such as Lewiston - the center of agriculture on the Camas prairie - Ritzville , which is responsible for the Big Bend area, and, above all, Spokane, the main urban center of the region . Spokane became known as the capital of the Inland Empire , an economic region in eastern Washington and northern Idaho on the border with Canada that includes the wheat-producing areas, the local mining districts, and the timber production of the forests of the region's forests. Spokane is also the cultural center and transport hub for the entire region.

From 1910 it became common for the residents of the region to refer to themselves as residents of the Inland Empire , the Wheat Belt, the Columbia Basin, or simply Eastern Washington, Oregon, or Northern Idaho, even though the earlier names such as Palouse, Walla Wala, Big Bend, Umatilla Country and Camas Prairie were still in use for a long time.

geology

The peculiar and picturesque silt - dunes that mark the Palouse Prairie were formed during the last Ice Age . Blown together by the glacial Sandur plains to the west and south, the Palouse hills consist of more or less random humps and valleys . The steepest slopes face northeast and reach up to 45 °. The very fertile loess soils are between 5 and 130 cm deep. Large areas of flat land lie bare, higher areas such as the Palouse Range often contain dense coniferous forest .

Agriculture

View from Steptoe Butte

Early agriculture was very labor-intensive and only possible with the intensive use of horse and human power. An organized harvest and threshing team in the 1920s consisted of 120 men and 320 horses and mules . When the wheat was ripe, the harvest groups traveled from farm to farm. The combine harvester had already been invented at the beginning of the 20th century , but few farmers had enough horses to pull such a machine, as it required 40 horses and six operators on even ground. Because of this, the Palouse lagged behind in combine harvester use compared to other agricultural areas in the United States. It was only after the Idaho Harvester Company in Moscow developed a smaller combine harvester that it became possible to use such machines. By 1930, 90% of the Palouse's wheat was harvested using a combine harvester.

The next step in mechanization was the development of the tractor . As with the combines, the first steam and gasoline powered tractors were too heavy and awkward to use on the steep hills of the Palouse. The lighter models introduced in the 1920s were also rarely used, with only 20% of farmers in the Palouse using tractors by 1930.

The fields of the Palouse from Kamiak Butte , early summer
The fields of the Palouse from Kamiak Butte, autumn

environment

Once an extensive prairie of medium-high, perennial grasses such as the blue tufted wheatgrass ( Agropyron spicatum ) and the Idaho fescue ( Festuca idahoensis ), the Palouse is now almost completely occupied by agricultural land. The prairie prairie is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States today , with just over one percent remaining.

Settlement and agricultural development have for the most part displaced the original animal world, so that the once numerous mammal and bird species have melted together with the exception of a few. The intensive agriculture leaves little space for plant and animal life with the use of arable land up to the roadside. Many of the previously existing streams that did not carry water all year round are now plowed over and part of the arable land. Of the year-round waters, which were previously accompanied by extensive wet meadows , some are only seasonally filled with water or are deeply cut, the wet meadows have disappeared.

Riparian forest areas provide breeding grounds for a greater variety of bird species than any other habitat in the United States. A reduction in the number of trees and shrubbery along river corridors leads to a reduction in the number of birds and, ultimately, bird species. In the Palouse ecoregion, the majority of the bird species bound to riparian forests have thus disappeared.

The conversion of larger areas of agricultural land to residential development introduces a new biodiversity into the Palouse. Research by Professor J. Ratti of the University of Idaho has shown how the number of bird species increased from 18 to 86 over a 10-year observation period in an area of ​​approximately 40 km² that was converted from arable land to suburban housing.

A farm in Whitman County, Washington

The intensification of agriculture affects both the amount and the quality of the available water. Shortening the drainage routes through straightening leads to short-term floods with larger amounts of water. This increases the erosion and dries up the perennial waters . As early as the 1930s, soil scientists observed a significant increase in deep erosion of the rivers in the region and a broadening of the river beds. The deep erosion caused the rivers and streams to lower the groundwater level of the directly adjacent wet meadows. On the southern Palouse River, for example, this meant that around 1900 agriculture was also possible in areas that were previously too wet for it. The displacement of year-round grasses by arable crops reduced seepage and increased surface runoff, so that rainwater now flows out of the region in a shorter time than it used to. Once year-round creeks are now dry in summer. This has a significant impact on amphibious and aquatic life forms.

As the population grew, towns and villages were established that changed the appearance of the landscape. In 1910, 22,000 people lived in 30 parishes scattered across the Palouse.

After the introduction of fertilizers after World War II , the agricultural yield increased two to four times.

Since 1900, 94% of the grasslands and 97% of the wetlands in the Palouse ecoregion have been converted for arable land, forage and grazing. Around 63% of the forest that existed in 1900 still exists today, 7% are reforestation areas or with bushes. The rest of the former forest has been converted into agricultural or urban area.

The effects of grazing livestock on the Palouse and Camas Prairie grasslands were temporary as much of the land was rapidly being turned into arable land. Only the Canyon place of birth, is much steeper to Snake and Clearwater River and their tributaries, which has a thinner wall, ceiling and has a hotter, drier climate than the grasslands, was not suitable for farming and has a significantly longer period of pastoralism in claim taken. This attracted significant changes in vegetation by itself by the original grasses by brome and malicious herbs such as knapweed were displaced. Both new genera are able to hold their own, they developed under similar conditions in Eurasia and were introduced to the USA in the late 19th century.

Conflagrations

Typical Palouse hills
View from Steptoe Butte

Although the discussion about the frequency of prairie fires continues in the past, there is still a consensus that fires are less common today than they were in the past. This is mainly due to the work of the fire brigades, the construction of roads that act as firebreaks and the conversion of grass and forest areas into arable land. Historians report bushfires in the pine strips surrounding the prairie caused by lightning strikes in late autumn, but the extent of the wildfires spreading to the prairie is unknown. The theory that the Nez Percé set the prairie on fire to accelerate the growth of Camassia has so far not been proven due to a lack of historical sources. Until the 1930s, white settlers set fire to prepare the land for settlement and grazing by slash and burn .

Since then, forest fires have become much rarer, so that the density of trees in the forests has increased and the vegetation through bushes and trees has been able to penetrate into previously open areas. If fires occur in the forest today, they can develop into wildfire and also cause greater damage, including destruction of the population.

Others

  • The Palouse is the habitat of the giant rainworm Driloleirus americanus from the Megascolecidae family , a nearly three-foot long white worm that smells like lilies .
  • The Palouse area is the main lentil growing area in the United States.
  • The Appaloosa horse breed was bred by the Nez Percé Indians in this area. Initially, the breed was called Palouse horse by the white settlers , from which Appaloosa developed over time.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meinig, p. 248: The 1880 census gives 3588 residents for Walla Walla and 3533 for Seattle.
  2. ↑ James W. Phillips: Washington State Place Names . University of Washington Press, 1971, ISBN 0-295-95158-3 .
  3. ↑ Meinig, p. 467.
  4. ↑ Terrestrial Ecoregions - Palouse grasslands (NA0813)
  5. ↑ Meinig, p. 510.
  6. ↑ Meinig, p. 333.
  7. ↑ Meinig, p. 406.
  8. ^ DD Alt and WD Hyndman: Roadside geology of Idaho. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Id. 403 pp. 1989.
  9. ↑ a b c d Williams, KR: Hills of gold: a history of wheat production technologies in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho. Dissertation, Washington State University, Pullman 1991.
  10. ↑ RF Noss, ET LaRoe III and JM Scott: Endangered ecosystems of the United States: a preliminary assessment of loss and degradation. United States National Biological Service, Biological Report 28, 1995.
  11. ^ JT Ratti and JM Scott: Agricultural impacts on wildlife: problem review and restoration needs. The Environmental Professional 13, pp. 263-274, 1991.
  12. ^ A b E. Victor: Some effects of cultivation upon stream history and upon the topography of the Palouse region. Northwest Science, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 18-19, 1935.
  13. ^ EW Tisdale: Canyon grasslands and associated shrublands of west-central Idaho and adjacent areas. Bulletin No. 40, Forestry, Wildlife and Range Experiment Station, University of Idaho, Moscow 1986.
  14. ^ P. Morgan, SC Bunting, AE Black, T. Merrill, and S. Barrett: Fire regimes in the Interior Columbia River Basin: past and present. Final Report, RJVA-INT-94913. Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana, 1996.

literature

Web links

Commons : Palouse  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 35 ′ 20.6 "  N , 117 ° 4 ′ 13.1"  W.