A 



Challenge 



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Columbia 



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of the Pacific 

 Northwest land- 



o single 

 element 



scape IS more 



critical to this region's economic 

 prosperity than the Columbia ' 

 River and its vast watershed — an 

 area covering 260,000 square 

 miles. - 



Electricity from the Columbia's dams 

 powers our homes, businesses and industries. 

 Much of the bountiful agricultural industry of 

 the Northwest depends on the Columbia's 

 irrigation and on its barge lines to transport 

 products to buyers. Commercial and recre- 

 ational fishing is not only an industry, but also 



a culture along the 

 Columbia and its tribu- 

 taries. And thousands 

 of Northwestemers use 

 the Columbia and its 

 tributaries for 

 '' recreation. 



The Columbia River Basin is also central 

 to Native Americans in the region. Columbia 

 River Basin salmon, for example, are intrinsic 

 in the culture of many Northwest tribes. 



All of that is part of the developed world 

 — the human and cultural side — of the 

 Columbia River Basin, and it is easy to think 

 that's all that matters. 



But there is also an undeveloped, natural 

 world in the Columbia Basin. It is an im- 

 mensely complex ecosystem — the setting for 

 thousands of years of biological interactions 

 that worked together to sustain life there. 



