Washington (state)

The State of Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada.)
There are more than 7,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the eastern part is Spokane, which is also the second biggest city in the state.
The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and divide it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889. It is often called "Washington State" so that it does not get confused with the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. The name "Washington" comes from President George Washington.
The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of the Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle; Seattle is also on the Puget Sound.
Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it is next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is colder, and usually not good to swim in.
The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. The University of Washington is in Seattle. Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east of the state.
Geography and climate
The state of Washington has an extremely varied geography, and therefore an extremely varied climate. The map shows western cities have shipping access. These are the low-lying parts on the next to the Pacific Ocean. The western side of the mountains is wet and forested with conifers. Some areas are temperate rain forests (in the Olympic Mountains).
The central area is mountainous, including five volcanos: Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. To the east of the mountains the land is dry and mostly dry grassland (high plains). Only one feature links the west to the east: the important Snake River, a tributary of the even larger Columbia River.
Lists of Federal land and reservations
National parks and monuments
There are three National Parks and two National Monuments in Washington:
Mount Rainier National Park
North Cascades National Park
Olympic National Park
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Hanford Reach National Monument
National forests
Nine national forests are located (at least partly) in Washington:
Colville National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Idaho Panhandle National Forest
Kaniksu National Forest
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Okanogan National Forest
Olympic National Forest
Umatilla National Forest
Wenatchee National Forest
Federally protected wildernesses
31 wildernesses are located (at least partly) in Washington, E.g.:
Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Glacier Peak Wilderness
Goat Rocks Wilderness
Henry M. Jackson Wilderness
Juniper Dunes Wilderness
Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
Mount Baker Wilderness
Norse Peak Wilderness
Olympic Wilderness
Pasayten Wilderness
Wild Sky Wilderness
National wildlife refuges
23 National Wildlife Refuges are located (at least partly) in Washington E.g.:
Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge
Other federally protected lands
Other protected lands of note are:
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Lake Chelan National Recreation Area
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
Ross Lake National Recreation Area
San Juan Island National Historical Park
Whitman Mission National Historic Site
17 National Natural Landmarks
Military and related reservations
There are many large military-related reservations, like:
Fort Lewis
McChord Air Force Base
Fairchild Air Force Base
Naval Base Kitsap
Hanford Site
Yakima Training Center
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (Bremerton)
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
Naval Station Everett
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Washington
List of counties in Washington
List of rivers of Washington
Mercer Island, Washington
Walla Walla, Washington
References
1889 establishments in the United States