Pacific Northwest water resource region
The Pacific Northwest water resource region is one of 21 major geographic areas, or regions, in the first level of classification used by the United States Geological Survey to divide and sub-divide the United States into successively smaller hydrologic units. These geographic areas contain either the drainage area of a major river, or the combined drainage areas of a series of rivers.[1][2]
The Pacific Northwest region, which is listed with a 2-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) of 17, has an approximate size of 302,334 square miles (783,040 square kilometers), and consists of 12 subregions, which are listed with the 4-digit HUCs 1701 through 1706.[3]
This region includes the drainage within the United States that ultimately discharges into: (a) the Strait of Georgia and of Strait of Juan de Fuca, and (b) the Pacific Ocean within the states of Oregon and Washington; and that part of the Great Basin whose discharge is into the state of Oregon. Includes all of Washington and parts of California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.[3]
List of water resource subregions
| Subregion HUC[4] | Subregion Name[4] | Subregion Description[3] | Subregion Location[4] | Subregion Size[4] | Subregion Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1701 | Kootenai–Pend Oreille–Spokane subregion | The Kootenai, Pend Oreille, and Spokane River Basins within the United States. | Idaho, Montana, and Washington. | 36,600 sq mi (95,000 km2) |  HUC1701 |
| 1702 | Upper Columbia subregion | The Columbia River Basin within the United States above the confluence with the Snake River Basin, excluding the Yakima River Basin. | Washington | 22,600 sq mi (59,000 km2) |  HUC1702 |
| 1703 | Yakima subregion | The Yakima River Basin. | Washington | 6,210 sq mi (16,100 km2) |  HUC1703 |
| 1704 | Upper Snake subregion | The Snake River Basin to and including the Clover Creek Basin. | Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. | 35,600 sq mi (92,000 km2) |  HUC1704 |
| 1705 | Middle Snake subregion | The Snake River Basin below the Clover Creek Basin to Hells Canyon Dam. | Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. | 36,700 sq mi (95,000 km2) |  HUC1705 |
| 1706 | Lower Snake subregion | The Snake River Basin below Hells Canyon Dam to its confluence with the Columbia River. | Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. | 35,200 sq mi (91,000 km2) |  HUC1706 |
| 1707 | Middle Columbia subregion | The Columbia River Basin below the confluence with the Snake River Basin to Bonneville Dam. | Oregon and Washington. | 29,800 sq mi (77,000 km2) |  HUC1707 |
| 1708 | Lower Columbia subregion | The Columbia River Basin below Bonneville Dam, excluding the Willamette River Basin. | Oregon and Washington. | 6,250 sq mi (16,200 km2) |  HUC1708 |
| 1709 | Willamette subregion | The Willamette River Basin. | Oregon | 11,400 sq mi (30,000 km2) |  HUC1709 |
| 1710 | Oregon–Washington Coastal subregion | The drainage into the drainage boundary to the Smith River Basin boundary, excluding the Columbia River Basin. | California, Oregon, and Washington. | 23,200 sq mi (60,000 km2) |  HUC1710 |
| 1711 | Puget Sound subregion | The drainage within the United States that discharges into: (a) Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia and of Juan De Fuca; and (b) the Fraser River Basin. | Washington | 16,800 sq mi (44,000 km2) |  HUC1711 |
| 1712 | Oregon closed basins subregion | The drainage of the Great Basin that discharges into the state of Oregon. | California, Nevada, and Oregon. | 17,300 sq mi (45,000 km2) |  HUC1712 |
References
- "Science in Your Watershed - Locate Your Watershed". USGS. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
- "Hydrologic Unit Maps". USGS. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
- "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". water.usgs.gov. USGS. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
- McManamay RA, Bevelhimer MS, Kao SC, Yaxing W, Martinez-Gonzalez M, Samu N (2013). "National Hydropower Asset Assessment Environmental Attribution". USGS-Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Retrieved 2016-10-12.