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Cascadia: The Land of Falling Waters
Within the U.S., you commonly hear of the regions of Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Black Belt, and New England. But have you ever heard of Cascadia, a vast region that reaches across the U.S. border to Canada? If you’ve ever visited the Pacific Northwest (PNW), chances are that you have seen this flag:
Created by Alexander Baretich of Portland, Oregon, this is the “Doug” flag of the Cascadian bioregionalist movement. Named for the Douglas fir in the middle of the flag, it features blue, white and green stripes which symbolize nature in its perfect state, with the tree representing resilience against threats from environmental changes. The flag represents a highly unique movement found across Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, where Cascadians push for independence based on environmentalist and naturalist ideals.
Bioregionalism is an environmentalist movement centered on the concept that populations should use their local natural resources to become self-sustaining and self-governing. These bioregions are defined by natural boundaries such as watersheds, mountain ranges, and biome types rather than political boundaries. For instance, a watershed is an area of land that funnels all of the rainfall and snowmelt into a particular set of streams and rivers, and is usually separated from another watershed by a mountain range or land ridge. As a result, watershed boundaries are easy to delineate and work well for the concept of bioregionalism. The ideology emerged from the environmental movement of the 1970s and 1980s, as individuals began developing their own ideas inspired by the growth of environmentalism. While bioregionalism is not hostile to technology or industrialization—it understands that these processes are important to global economies and societies—it emphasizes the interconnectedness of humans with the larger ecosystem and their responsibility to live in balance with their local environments.
The development of Cascadia is quite recent, first gaining use in the natural sciences, when geologists and botanists used it to depict a subterranean formation and a region of terrestrial vegetation. During the last quarter of the 20th century, others started using it to describe a cultural, social, and ecological region. When David McCloskey, a professor at Seattle University, originated the term “Cascadia” for the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, he did so on the basis of these bioregional ideas. Known as the “Father of Cascadia” and the founder of the Cascadia Institute, McCloskey named the region for its “cascading” waterfalls and flowing rivers. He described its mountains, green forests, and especially its river systems flowing toward the Pacific, as a “land of falling waters.” The bioregion is based on the watersheds of the Columbia, Fraser, and Snake River valleys, a web of streams that exemplify the interconnectedness of the ecology and landscape which stretches from Oregon to Yukon.
Proponents of watershed bioregionalism (bioregionalism that is based on the natural boundaries of a watershed) argue that this type of territory equitably provides vital resources for all living beings, humans and animals alike. At the time of Cascadia’s inception, the region ranged across 750,000 square miles (1.9 million sq km) and was home to over twelve million people—it transcends political boundaries between U.S. states and even the 49th parallel, which divides the United States and Canada. At its core, Cascadia is a hopeful, optimistic view of how modern societies can reintegrate nature and ecology into their lives; this is evident in the creation of maps of Cascadia that emphasize biodiversity and the environment.
Unsurprisingly, most maps of Cascadia have been produced by organizations promoting the Cascadian movement: the Cascadia Department of Bioregion, the Cascadia Institute, and Regenerate Cascadia are but a few examples of groups involved in the push for Cascadian recognition. The below Cascadia watershed map was created in 2019 by the Cascadia Department of Bioregion in collaboration with Hungarian geographer Szűcs Róbert: Hydrology Map of the Cascadia bioregion of North America based on Strahler Stream Order. Depicted on this map for the first time is a complete series of rivers that make up the hydrology of the Cascadia bioregion shown as a single complete system of interconnected streams, rivers, and waterways.
In the creation of Cascadia, McCloskey added that its “natural integrity” matched its “sociocultural unity.” Contemporary movements have drawn upon McCloskey’s ideas to advocate for a region in which all cultural and political divides are dissolved through bioregionalism. As the Cascadian movement and its message of environmental protection grew throughout the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia evolved from a simple geographical area into a widespread cultural and economic movement that channels liberal, “hippie” ideals of inclusivity, sustainable lifestyles, and non-discriminatory societies. Cascadian flags are often flown at PNW pride parades. Many nonprofit organizations, such as CascadiaNow! and Cascadia Climate Action, have adopted the Cascadian identity to promote environmental justice and certain human rights goals.
Cascadia is also seen as a promising economic region for businesses and investors who aim to develop the Cascadia Innovation Corridor, which links Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. In 2023, British Columbia saw a gross domestic product of $296 billion, while in 2024, Washington and Oregon had a combined GDP of $1.1 trillion. Inspired by the United States’ Northeast Corridor, which includes cities stretching from Boston to Washington D.C., the Washington State Department of Transportation developed a plan for a Cascadian high-speed rail service to connect the three major PNW cities in 2016. With a budget of $55 million USD, the international high-speed rail is projected to be completed in 2028. This is an unprecedented project within the U.S., which rarely sees high-speed rail networks come to fruition; perhaps this will inspire other regions in the country to follow Cascadia’s example of accessible, rapid transit.
Today, a few civil society groups are pushing for Cascadian secession and subsequent independence. Aside from the steep difficulty of combining parts of two countries into one, secessionists argue that the very landscape of Cascadia influences the lifestyles and political ideologies of its residents, and that its potential for economic success holds promise. Is this realistic? So far, Cascadia is the only major bioregionalist movement in the world. Even if a few groups aim for independence, the movement is less so arguing for formal secession, and more so aiming for a social and cultural movement to build regional unity.
However, there are notable critiques of Cascadia’s approach toward bioregionalism. It is considered to be unrealistic, due to the fact that global economies are deeply interconnected—Cascadian ideas overlook the fact that today’s urban populations are too large to depend only on their local environments. While Cascadia’s environment is abundant with natural resources such as fish, wild game, freshwater, and lumber, many of the world’s ecosystems do not have the same luck. For places such as the southwestern deserts of the U.S. or the icy Canadian tundra, modern human populations would have a difficult time flourishing without interactions with and products from other parts of the world.
Further, calls Cascadian secession are subject to themes of environmental determinism, a historical ideology which proposes that climate and geography are responsible for shaping human characteristics such as culture and social structures. This concept was utilized by European colonial powers to justify their takeover of Africa, the Americas, and parts of Asia, as they claimed that the environments of these continents had caused their inhabitants to develop into “lesser” human beings compared to Europeans. However, the visionaries behind the shared, ecologically-focused culture of Cascadia generally reject strict, old-fashioned environmental determinism, where geography dictates culture. While the classic environmental determinism often resulted in racist and colonial justifications, modern Cascadia argues that a unique environment creates a specific kind of society. The Cascadia bioregionalism movement is based on a particular natural landscape shaping a sustainable and resilient regional identity, prioritizing environmental stewardship over traditional geopolitical divisions.
Not only that, but Cascadian secession also raises questions for the sovereignty of Indigenous groups and First Nations throughout the Pacific Northwest. In these conversations, the role of the PNW’s Indigenous peoples in Cascadia is often overlooked; this reflects an earlier history of Indigenous groups being systematically stripped of their land and rights as European settlers moved onto their territories. Many Cascadia organizers argue that true autonomy would require supporting Indigenous self-determination and respect for Indigenous sovereignty, especially with regard to land, education, and economies.
Cascadian activists hope that their principles of environmentalism, inclusivity, and appreciation for all parts of the natural world—including humans—will remain the core tenets of the Cascadian movement. While full independence is highly unlikely, the movement and concept of Cascadia have gained traction as a way of thinking about regionalism and environmental planning. As the impacts of climate change worsen globally, other bioregionalist movements may emerge that hope to protect both their environment and their people in the face of environmental destruction.
References
Cascadia Department of Bioregion
JSTOR: William B. Henkel, 1993
Washington State Department of Transportation
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