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jimmycoed t1_iwl5x2d wrote

I grew up there. Highlights included playing tic tac toe with a chicken at the feed store and throwing beer bottles at stop signs. If (big if) a gas station was open on Sundays you took a drive to Spokane and had supper at the Chuckwagon.

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FriesWithThat t1_iwkmkhm wrote

I think OP may be referring to that strip of untilled soil in the front of the photo which is of course still part of the 99.9% of land used for industrial agriculture, in the Palouse at least. There may be a strip of native prairie down by where you see those trees in the back. That area all the way in the back right around Steptoe Butte includes 437 acres of land surrounding the State Park was purchased by two families for preservation in 2016.

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stahlpferd t1_iwlsz7x wrote

There's way less native prairie left because to be native prairie, the land had to never have any cattle or farming. I don't think Steptoe meets that definition. About the only publicly owned native palouse prairie that's left is owned by the university. It's called Magpie Forest and it's pretty cool. There are a few other acres of privately owned native prairie around, but it's really rare.

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FriesWithThat t1_iwmhaut wrote

True. The concept of ecological restoration is also a moving target. It neither makes sense nor is possible to restore it to how it was before because many of those species of flora and fauna do not exist natively in the region any more, or could survive and contribute productively to the biodiversity of the target ecosystem. You just kind of make a plan, shoot for it, and adjust as it evolves. The Magpie Forest is neat and very accessible but there are certainly a lot of non-native species there now, which is fine. The other ones you mention: Rose Creek Preserve, and the privately accessible one south of town are better examples of what they would aim towards out at Steptoe. I worked at the one south of town and there's nothing immediately spectacular about it that would grab the attention of people who aren't patient, or don't appreciate such things—it's very much a prairie-density sort of land, no water like at Rose, and more of an island within the surrounding agriculture, but every now and then things get very quiet and you look around and you start seeing different species of birds and hawks soaring in the skies above, or you notice the giant but gentle bumble bees all around you in large numbers. Things that are just sort of unobtrusively co-existing, contributing and dependent on that environment.

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LafayetteHubbard t1_iwmnbno wrote

Native prairies were actually grazed by large herbivores before European settlement (bison) so it actually is possible to have harmony with cattle grazing and native prairies. Albeit, good management practices are imperative to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

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cornylifedetermined t1_iwkz7wg wrote

What? You don't like bread?

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aseaflight t1_iwll8mh wrote

Very little of the wheat grown in WA stays local. 90+% is exported.

And very little of it is turned into bread. 80+% is soft white wheat.

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farfetchds_leek t1_iwmcj2k wrote

Are you saying that agricultural products are inherently worse if they are exported?

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aseaflight t1_iwmcsdn wrote

Not inherently. But we should recognize that it does come with an environmental and economic cost.

Mainly I was pointing out that local agriculture doesn't mean local food. Washington wheat doesn't turn into bread eaten by Washingtonians.

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shitwheresmyjuul t1_iwmr5n0 wrote

>Mainly I was pointing out that local agriculture doesn't mean local food. Washington wheat doesn't turn into bread eaten by Washingtonians.

Being an exporter is generally a good thing. If we want to talk about the evils of globalization, that's a slightly different conversation.

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goinupthegranby t1_iwmyw6t wrote

Its a trip driving through buttfuck Central/Eastern WA and passing a grain terminal on the Snake River and thinking 'this site in the middle of nowhere is directly connected into the global economy by water'

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GucciSalad t1_iwlbqrn wrote

Is this supposed to be a dig?

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SIVART33 t1_iwndxna wrote

Yes, went over your head I see

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GucciSalad t1_iwqbr2d wrote

I mean, I could post a picture of Seattle and title it "boy I sure do love the very 100% natural forests of Western Washington".

You could do that for literally anywhere. Seems like a pointless insult.

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droneifyguy t1_iwlqf6y wrote

This man doesn’t know much about agriculture it seems.

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monkey_trumpets t1_iwls5qk wrote

Living in the West side of WA, it's hard to believe that a good portion of WA is just brown and open.

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lurker-1969 t1_iwlxffd wrote

Monocropping has sure killed off the game bird population there. Beautiful country for sure but monocropping ain't the way.

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holmgangCore t1_iwm9gfh wrote

Ironically, the land in the Hanford reserve is probably some of the most untouched land out there. Except for the radiation, but that’s mostly leaking into the groundwater & the Columbia. Or something like that.

Edit: There are Pygmy rabbits out there, and sage grouse, and more, all on hundreds of acres of untrammeled land! Hanford is a huge, unintentional experiment in land conservation.

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zombuca t1_iwmc0du wrote

This is a farm. This is what farms do.

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rawbery79 t1_iwlqq62 wrote

Wow, so edgy. 🙄

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Affectionate-Taro325 t1_iwmxa9f wrote

I grew up on a family farm in eastern Washington. It can be pretty bleak in the winter but I still miss it sometimes. Industrialized farming pretty much drove farms like ours out of business although a few still hold on. But I think it’s important to acknowledge that while there are environmental costs to this kind of agricultural production, advances in agriculture are pretty much what make the current world population possible, though I hope we can work towards more sustainable solutions.

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williarya1323 t1_iwkmkvl wrote

Wide open spaces. It’s so easy to take a full, deep breath.

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RippingLegos t1_iwxuh3o wrote

Yes it is, I've lived in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, and East of Wentachee. I absolutely feel hemmed in on the West side of the state unless I'm on the coast.

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hubcapdiamonstar t1_iwlkc45 wrote

I have the same feeling towards any forested area that’s been logged or is amid a terrible checkerboard logging pattern you see from satellite images. It’s all been degraded and isn’t natural and it’s hard for me to appreciate.

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Alternative-Eye-1993 t1_iwklx5i wrote

having grown up in Eastern Washington, I always found it so ugly.

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SpunkyRadcat t1_iwknibn wrote

It's one of those things that when you live elsewhere and you come over, it's not ugly, until you see it again, and again, and again, and again, and suddenly those gently rolling hills are obnoxious to look at and you're happy to go home.

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KaesekopfNW t1_iwlost8 wrote

I don't know. I lived in Pullman for six years and never once got tired of the rolling hills. My last few weeks were spent taking in the final spring/early summer of the crops coming in, knowing I wouldn't be seeing that again for potentially a long time, if ever. I've also never seen a better sunset than on the Palouse.

To each their own.

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Alternative-Eye-1993 t1_iwly0rx wrote

I mean just compared to the west side of the state with the lush green forest and beautiful scenery. I was always like “it’s hideous here (meaning eastern WA.)” haha

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CheckmateApostates t1_iwql0ig wrote

Eastern Washington is very green north of Spokane. The Selkirk Mountains in the northeast corner are part of the inland temperate rainforest. The brown wasteland that we see during most of the year in central and eastern Washington are farms and rangeland that used to be prairie, semi-arid steppe, ponderosa pine shrub steppe, and forests.

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goinupthegranby t1_iwmzfvj wrote

I'm from BC not too far from Spokane and I've done a trip strictly to explore central Washington and while it was a cool trip I have pretty low interest in repeating it. The Palouse is super pretty to me but draw to visit it just cuz? Nope.

Side note: the dirt road that follows the Snake south of Clarkston on the WA side of the river down to the Grande Ronde is a super cool area.

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VersofCascadia t1_iwomh7p wrote

Hehehe you've been out past asotin! That place is the best part of eastern WA

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goinupthegranby t1_iwotgfq wrote

I'm not from Washington but have spent 30 years of my life a 10 minute drive away from Ferry County and have seen a lot of the dry side and that area really is the best part of Eastern WA.

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wade_watt t1_iwo2b40 wrote

It never gets old, taking the long straight roads, being able to see for miles. I like driving around looking for deer just grazing in the fields.

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OldeHickory t1_iwlkjxc wrote

Yea growing wheat without irrigation is so overrated

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Future_Huckleberry71 t1_iwnnss0 wrote

Sarcasm from the gluten intolerant I guess. Hates productive ag. lands.

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CautiousDavid t1_iwni0wf wrote

Don’t diss farms. Also, go back before harvest next time, these fields can be beautiful.

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bgk67 t1_iwm08g1 wrote

Is that Steptoe Butte in the background?

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_iwm1bww wrote

Sad so much of eastern Washington is plowed. The only true natural areas are in the Hanford reservation, a few wildlife refuges, Yakima Training Center. Some hilltops to steep to plow. Everything else like this roadside is a disturbed area and is generally filled with crap like cheat grass that is not native.

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Montu_Walks t1_iwms9m8 wrote

It takes on a lovely shade of green in May.

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KanyeWaste69 t1_iwmucil wrote

Yeah, aside from that I wish all the desert further west wasn't 75 percent destroyed to make for farming. Wouldn't even been possible without mass irragation projects.

An incredible l project to read about especially since it was done in the 30s-60s but honestly farms killed the scenery in many places. Not to mention who knows how many species went extinct, how many people displaced, etc. Nothing wrong with farming but they never needed to destroy so much of the natural land for it.

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CheckmateApostates t1_iwobo5o wrote

Places like Pullman celebrate that while giving lip service to conserving the (very much endangered) natural prairie that only exists in small pockets scattered across the Palouse. Throughout the spring, while the wheatfields are still rolling waves of dirt, Turnbull NWR's little patch of prairie blooms with a succession of wildflowers. It's really beautiful and a sad reminder of what we've lost.

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whidbeysounder t1_iwlj2ao wrote

Bless Mother Nature and Woody Guthrie for bringing us this natural water. Roll on Columbia Roll on

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GamerPaper470 t1_iwmfo7e wrote

I wanna run here

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Boxcar_Lucy t1_iwmrcdi wrote

I’ve had that pleasure. You truly feel its vastness when you’re winded and it hasn’t even looked like you’ve gone anywhere.

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spearmintfarmer t1_iwnxx0x wrote

Everyone saying how bad “industrial”farming is on the natural ecosystems. What’s
big urban areas done to the ecosystems they replaced. I feel like trees had to be removed to make way for all the houses and shopping centers.

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