Impressions of the North Cascades: Essays about a Northwest Landscape

The landscape of the North Cascades is bounded by the Fraser River on the north, the Okanogan Highlands and Columbia Plateau on the east, Snoqualmie Pass to the south, and the Puget lowlands to the west. Mountains, rising nearly from sea level, are the signature of this magnificent place. Fifteen peaks tower over 9,000 feet while nearly 300 rise in elevation between 7,000 and 9,000 feet. Torrents of water fall as rain and snow here, and as a result, 519 glaciers cover over 90 square miles between Snoqualmie Pass and the Canadian border. Lakes nestle in tight pockets between sharp, often serrated ridges. Most of these lakes are natural, while a few are reservoirs behind dams. The North Cascades is a dramatic place of deep-green hillsides and rock faces raked by streamers of cloud, gleaming glaciers riven by crevasses, rivers racing under gray skies, and ravens rolling on the wind. The essays in this book reflect upon this mountain range, looking at its place in space and time. The essays are organized into three sections that address what the North Cascades landscape has been in the past, what it is today, and what it might or should become in the future. We look at a place dominated by rock and ice and huge forests and think it has always looked like this, that it always will and probably should. Yet we know it has not always been as it is today, and will not be so in the future, despite our wishes. What, then, has it been, and what might it become? We learn that humans have been among these mountains for thousands of years; those of European descent not much more than a century. Tectonic plates, volcanoes, ice sheets, alpine glaciers, and indigenous peoples have formed this land. Transformation has continued in this century of dominance as pioneers and developers have gained power and built dams, bored tunnels, shaved trees off hills, drawn boundaries around forests and parks, and otherwise made their mark. This last hundred years of history raises questions about the consequences of our actions for both ourselves and the other beings with whom we share this place. In the concluding group of essays, we look to the future and reflect on what will be necessary to ensure that the North Cascades remains the rich and beautiful natural area it is today.