Empty Interior - RICH in Beauty!

For years Oregon state was the apple of my eye, since I hung out there during my early years. That might change when I visit/travel this part of the states. I'm truly intrigued by its rich geography and geology!

Chapter 13 is all about the Empty Interior. And it looks the "interior" covers a few bases around the west and even the Pacific NorthWest.  I see that it slightly touched Portland and Wasco County as the transitional period. Does this mean that these chapter might FINALLY be getting closer to covering PNW material? I sure hope so!

It covers New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, most of Colorado, Idaho, half of Wyoming, a piece of California, and HALF of Oregon!

I digress. The interior is rests on the Coloroado and Columbia Plateau. The Colorado Plateaus is along the middle of the Colorado River in Utah & Arizona, main parts of the interior. They are gently touching into sedentary rocks, and the major landscapes are due to features from erosion by something called exotic rivers. This is more apparent in Colorado. The Columbia Plateau nests towards the Pacific North West. It formed due to lava flow build up as deep as 2000 feet!

I think we are finally getting closer to my US site of choice....

Bryce Canyons National Park, part of the Public Land/Conservation Programs.

Another popular term I've previously heard that describes the Empty Interior is Basin & Range. It covers across South New Mexico, Arizona, west of Death Valley, and Mojave Desert. Within this region, there's about 80 flat basins containing quite a few ridges (200!). With all of its geologic beauty, it comes with a price: no drainage outlet to the sea, which brings me to  delve into geomorphic processes curiosity.

Lets move on to CLIMATE. For the most part, the Interior is arid to semiarid, specifically in the Southern section. It covers most of North America's desert area (sharing with the Southwest). It shares its extremes: the low lying areas tend to be dry, while there is a share of heavy precipitation on the mid-slopes of mountains.

There seems to be some controversy with Public Land ownership in the Interior. The area is under government control, 90% of Nevada is public land. Now the question is, which sliver of Nevada ISN'T public land? Curiosity isn't killing, but its surely deterring me. Well, judging from the map, it looks like the majority of the Interior is federally-owned one way or another. They are subdivided into categories such as Conservation programs (like national parks, national forests, and Canadian provincial land areas). There is also areas where Indian Reservations dominate the land. It is often criticized due to the stifling of further planning.

While I can understand where the criticism is coming from, I'm a firm believer that such freedoms to use the land are hindered for a reason. When it comes to the preservation of land, I feel that any prevention of planning is more than acceptable. The landscapes of erosion and endless miles of arid desert land are like U.S. pieces of natural art. The tourism generates a fair amount of money into the region. Urbanizing it would pretty much destroy the delicate basins that puzzle the area. Conservation programs are a great way to protect the land. Federal ownership of land, in my opinion, is not too shabby.

Canyon Lands National Park.
Wouldn't want to see a hint of urbanization
anywhere near these folds of sedentary rocks.

I'm happy that this chapter is getting closer to the PNW...In any case, I feel that their similarities contrast a bit but there's a piece of commonality. The Interior has lands that are considered National Parks, as does Oregon State and the surrounding PNW. The Interior depends on these "erosional beauties" in order to attract tourism, awareness, and its an excellent way to preserve the land for what it is. The PNW has its share of National Parks in order to preserve dendra, canopy beds, and wildlife.

American bison

Speaking of WILDLIFE....The Interior is home to the bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, and the white-tail deer. A positive correlation to the public land ownership could be that the animals rose in population in the 1930's, somethings that's pretty much unheard of since native species tend to decline in population so often. Now not all species are blooming in population: there has been an unfortunate
decline in the wolves species due to its re-introduction from being in the endangered species list. Once it was re-introduced, it attracted hunters.

Proghorn Antelope with heart shaped antlers.

Mexican gray wolf. Please stop hurting this guy, hunters.