View source for Palouse

{{Short description|Geographic region of Northwestern United States dominated by wheat-based agriculture}}
{{about|the geographic region|the city|Palouse, Washington}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
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The '''Palouse''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|l|uː|s}} {{respell|pə|LOOSS|'}}) is a geographic region of the [[northwestern United States]], encompassing parts of [[North Central Idaho|north central Idaho]], southeastern Washington (part of [[eastern Washington]]), and by some definitions, parts of northeast [[Oregon]]. It is a major [[Agriculture|agricultural]] area, primarily producing [[wheat]] and [[legume]]s. Situated about {{convert|160|mi|km|-1}} north of the [[Oregon Trail]], the region experienced rapid growth in the late 19th century.

The Palouse is home to two [[Land-grant university|land-grant universities]]: the [[University of Idaho]] in [[Moscow, Idaho|Moscow]] and [[Washington State University]] in [[Pullman, Washington|Pullman]]. Just {{convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} apart, both universities opened in the early 1890s.

==Geography and history==
[[Image:UI-arboretum-spring-moscow-id-us.png|thumb|The Palouse hills south of the [[University of Idaho|UI]] [[University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden|Arboretum]] in [[Moscow, Idaho]]]]
The origin of the name "Palouse" is unclear. One theory is that the name of the [[Palouse people|Palus]] tribe (spelled in early accounts variously as Palus, Palloatpallah, Pelusha, etc.) was converted by [[French-Canadian]] fur traders to the more familiar French word {{wikt-lang|fr|pelouse}}, meaning "land with short and thick grass" or "lawn." Over time, the spelling changed to Palouse.<ref>{{cite book |last= Phillips |first= James W. |title= Washington State Place Names |url= https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil |url-access= registration |year= 1971 |publisher= University of Washington Press |isbn= 978-0-295-95158-4}}</ref> Another theory is that the region's name came from the French word and was later applied to its indigenous inhabitants.

Traditionally, the Palouse region was defined as the fertile hills and [[prairie]]s north of the [[Snake River]], which separated it from [[Walla Walla County, Washington|Walla Walla County]], and north of the [[Clearwater River (Idaho)|Clearwater River]], which separated it from the [[Camas prairie#Idaho|Camas Prairie]], extending north along the [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Idaho]] border, south of [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]] and centered on the [[Palouse River]]. The region had a settlement and wheat-growing boom during the 1880s, part of a larger process of growing wheat in southeast Washington, originally pioneered in Walla Walla County south of the Snake River.<ref>Meinig, p. 467.</ref> While this definition of the Palouse remains common today, the term is sometimes used to refer to the entire wheat-growing region, including Walla Walla County, the [[Camas prairie|Camas]] Prairie of Idaho, the Big Bend region of the central [[Columbia River Plateau]], and other smaller agricultural districts such as [[Asotin County, Washington]], and [[Umatilla County, Oregon]]. This larger definition is used by organizations such as the [[World Wide Fund for Nature]], who define the Palouse Grasslands [[ecoregion]] broadly.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Palouse grasslands|id=na0813}}</ref>

[[Image:WhitmanCountyWA.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A farm in [[Whitman County]]]]

The community of [[Palouse, Washington]] is located in [[Whitman County]], about {{convert|7|mi|km}} west of [[Potlatch, Idaho]]. Nevertheless, the traditional definition of the Palouse region is distinct from the older Walla Walla region south of the [[Snake River]], where [[dryland farming]] of wheat was first proved to be viable in the region in the 1860s. During the 1870s, the Walla Walla region was rapidly converted to farmland, while the initial experiments in growing wheat began in the Palouse region, which previously had been the domain of cattle and sheep ranching. When those trials turned out to be more than successful, a minor land rush quickly filled the Palouse region with farmers during the 1880s. The simultaneous proliferation of railroads only increased the rapid settlement of the Palouse. By 1890 nearly all the Palouse lands had been taken up and converted to wheat farming.<ref>Meinig, pg. 510.</ref>

At least four centers were established all within several miles of each other: [[Colfax, Washington|Colfax]] (the oldest), [[Palouse, Washington|Palouse]], [[Pullman, Washington|Pullman]], and on the Idaho side, [[Moscow, Idaho|Moscow]]. The four centers, along with at least ten lesser ones, resulted in a diffuse pattern of rural centers.<ref>Meinig, pg. 333.</ref>

Cities along the borders of the Palouse and by some definitions included within it, include [[Lewiston, Idaho]], serving the Camas Prairie farmlands; [[Ritzville, Washington|Ritzville]], serving the eastern edge of the Big Bend Country; and [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], the region's major urban hub. So dominant was Spokane's position that it became known as the capital of the [[Inland Empire (Pacific Northwest)|Inland Empire]], including all the wheat-producing regions, the local mining districts, and lumber-producing forests. Spokane also served as the region's main railroad and transportation hub. By 1910, although local terms including Palouse, Walla Walla Country, Big Bend, [[Umatilla County, Oregon|Umatilla County]], and Camas Prairie continued to be common, many people of the region began to regard themselves as living in the Inland Empire, the Wheat Belt, the [[Columbia River Drainage Basin|Columbia Basin]], or Eastern Washington, [[Oregon]], or [[Idaho panhandle|North Idaho]].<ref>Meinig, pg. 406.</ref>

===Farming===
Early [[farming]] was extremely labor-intensive and relied heavily on human and horse-power. An organized harvesting/threshing team in the 1920s required 120 men and 320 mules and horses.<ref name=williams1991>Williams, K.R. 1991. Hills of gold: a history of wheat production technologies in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho. Ph.D. dissertation, Washington State University, Pullman.</ref> Teams moved from farm to farm as the crops ripened. By this point, the [[combine harvester|combine]] had been invented and was in use, but few farmers had enough horses to pull such a machine, which required a crew of 40 horses and six men to operate on level ground. 

It was only when the Idaho Harvester Company in [[Moscow, Idaho|Moscow]] began to manufacture a smaller machine that combine harvesting became feasible. By 1930, 90% of all Palouse wheat was harvested using combines.<ref name=williams1991/> The next step in mechanization was the development of the [[tractor]]. As with the combines, the first steam engine and gasoline-powered tractors were too heavy and awkward for use on the steep Palouse hills. The smaller, general use tractors introduced in the 1920s were only marginally used. As a result, by 1930, only 20% of Palouse farmers used tractors.<ref name="williams1991" /> Today, the Palouse region is the most important [[lentil]]-growing region in the U.S.<ref name="NYTlentils">{{cite news|title=National Origins: Washington-Idaho Border; America's Golden Land Of Lentils|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1997-09-24|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/24/dining/national-origins-washington-idaho-border-america-s-golden-land-of-lentils.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=2009-08-17 | first=Donna | last=St. George}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
Image:Palouse fields from Kamiak Butte 00-08-23.jpg|View of the Palouse fields from [[Kamiak Butte County Park|Kamiak Butte]], early summer
Image:Palouse fields, Washington from Kamiak Butte.jpg|Palouse fields seen from Kamiak Butte, fall
</gallery>

== Geology ==
The peculiar and picturesque [[loess]] hills which characterize the Palouse Prairie are underlain by wind-blown [[sediment]]s of the Palouse Loess which covers the surface of over {{convert|50,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} on the [[Columbia Plateau]] in southeastern Washington, western Idaho, and northeastern Oregon. The Palouse Loess forms a fine-grained mantle of variable thickness which lies upon either the [[Miocene]] [[Columbia River Basalt Group]], non-glacial [[Pliocene]] [[fluvial]] sediments of the [[Ringold Formation]], or [[Pleistocene]] glacial [[outburst flood]] sediments which are known informally as the ''Hanford formation.'' At its thickest, the Palouse Loess is up to {{convert|75|m|ft|sp=us}} thick. It consists of multiple layers of loess separated by multiple well-defined [[calcrete]] [[paleosol]]s and erosional [[unconformity|unconformities]]. The degree of development of individual layers of calcrete together with [[thermoluminescence dating|thermoluminescence]] and [[optically stimulated luminescence dating]] of the loess indicate that each calcrete layer represents a period of thousands to tens of thousands of years of nondeposition, weathering, and soil development that occurred between episodic periods of loess deposition. A consistent sequence of [[Geomagnetic reversal|normal-reverse-normal polarity signatures]] demonstrates that the older layers of loess accumulated between 2 and 1 million years ago. Detailed optically stimulated luminescence dating has shown that the uppermost layer of Palouse Loess accumulated between 15,000 years ago and modern times and the layer of loess underlying it accumulated episodically between about 77,000 and 16,000 years ago. Regional trends in the distribution, thickness, texture, and overall composition of the Palouse Loess indicate that it largely consists of the wind-blown sediments eroded from fine-grained deposits of the Hanford formation that were periodically deposited by repeated [[Missoula floods]] within the Eureka Flats area.<ref name=Busacca1989a>Busacca, A.J., 1989. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151122231216/https://www.wou.edu/las/physci/taylor/gs407rivers/busacca_89.pdf ''Long Quaternary record in eastern Washington, U.S.A., interpreted from multiple buried paleosols in loess.''] Geoderma. 45:105-122.</ref><ref name=BusaccaOthers1994a>Busacca, AJ, and EV McDonald (1994) [https://web.archive.org/web/20151211014826/http://file.dnr.wa.gov/publications/ger_b80_regional_geol_wa_2.pdf ''Regional sedimentation of late Quaternary loess on the Columbia plateau: sediment source areas and loess distribution patterns.''] Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Bulletin. 80:181-190.</ref><ref name=GaylordOthers2003a>Gaylord, DR, AJ Busacca, and MR Sweeney (2003) [https://web.archive.org/web/20151122232522/https://www.wou.edu/las/physci/taylor/gs407rivers/Gaylord_etal_2003_Palouse_Loess_Field_Guide.pdf ''The Palouse loess and the Channeled Scabland: A paired Ice-Age geologic system.''] In Quaternary Geology of the United States, INQUA 2003 Field Guide Volume. DJ Easterbrook, ed., pp. 123-134. Reno, Nevada: Desert Research Institute.</ref><ref name=SweeneyOthers2007a>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2006.10.034| title=Evolution of Eureka Flat: A dust-producing engine of the Palouse loess, USA| journal=Quaternary International| volume=162-163| pages=76–96| year=2007| last1=Sweeney| first1=Mark R.| last2=Gaylord| first2=David R.| last3=Busacca| first3=Alan J.| bibcode=2007QuInt.162...76S}}</ref>

Although superficially resembling sand or other types of dunes, the loess hills of the Palouse are of far different origin. Internally, they lack any evidence of [[cross-bedding]] or erosion of interbedded layers of loess and calcrete that characterize dunes formed by moving currents. Instead, these hills consist of alternating layers of loess and calcrete that are more or less concordant with the modern surface of these hills. This layering demonstrates that the Palouse hills loess accumulated from the airfall of wind-silt from suspension. In addition, the ubiquitous homogenization of the loess by innumerable plant roots and insect burrows as it accumulated further supports the conclusion drawn from numerous thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence dates that individual layers of loess accumulated over an extended period of time in terms of thousands of years. Finally, the calcrete horizons are paleosols that represent the periodic cessation of loess accumulation for periods of thousands of years during which they formed within the surface of a loess layer.<ref name=SweeneyOthers2007a/><ref name=Lewis1960a>Lewis, PF (1960) ''Linear Topography in the Southwestern Palouse, Washington-Oregon.'' Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 50(2):98-111.</ref><ref name=MsCDonaldsOthers1990a>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/0169-555X(90)90016-J|title = Interaction between aggrading geomorphic surfaces and the formation of a late pleistocene paleosol in the palouse loess of eastern Washington state|journal = Geomorphology|volume = 3|issue = 3–4|pages = 449–469|year = 1990|last1 = McDonald|first1 = Eric V.|last2 = Busacca|first2 = Alan J.|bibcode = 1990Geomo...3..449M}}</ref>

==Environment==
{{Infobox ecoregion
|name                = Palouse grasslands
|image               = Cougar Bar on the Snake River in Hell's Canyon, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (26528817140).jpg
|image_size          = 
|image_alt           = 
|caption             = A preserved patch of perennial grassland in [[Hells Canyon National Recreation Area]] in Idaho
|map                 = Palouse grasslands map.svg
|map_size            = 250px
|map_alt             = 
|map_caption         = Palouse grasslands ecoregion according to the [[World Wildlife Fund|WWF]]
|biogeographic_realm = [[Nearctic realm|Nearctic]]
|biome               = [[Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
|animals             = 
|bird_species        = 199 <ref name=AtlasGC>{{Cite web|title=The Atlas of Global Conservation|url=http://maps.tnc.org/globalmaps.html|access-date=2020-11-12|website=maps.tnc.org|archive-date=2012-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305201312/http://maps.tnc.org/globalmaps.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|mammal_species      = 87 <ref name=AtlasGC/>
|border1             = [[Blue Mountains forests]]
|border2             = [[Cascade Mountains leeward forests]]
|border3             = [[North Central Rockies forests]]
|border4             = [[Okanagan dry forests]]
|border5             = [[Snake-Columbia shrub steppe]]
|border6             = [[South Central Rockies forests]]
|area                = 46,879
|country             = 
|countries           = [[United States]]
|state               = [[Idaho]], [[Oregon]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
|region_type         = 
|elevation           = 
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|geology             = 
|seas                = 
|rivers              = 
|climate             = [[Cold semi-arid climate|Cold semi-arid]] (''BSk'')
|soil                = 
|conservation        = Critical/Endangered <ref name=WWF>{{Cite web|title=Palouse grasslands {{!}} Ecoregions {{!}} WWF|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na0813|access-date=2020-11-13|website=World Wildlife Fund|language=en}}</ref>
|global200           = 
|habitat_loss        = 26.3
|habitat_loss_ref    = <ref name=AtlasGC/>
|protected           = 9.89
|protected_ref       = <ref name=AtlasGC/>
|embedded            = 
}}

Once an extensive [[prairie]] composed of mid-length perennial grasses such as [[bluebunch wheatgrass]] (''Agropyron spicatum'') and [[Festuca idahoensis|Idaho fescue]] (''Festuca idahoensis''), today virtually all of the Palouse Prairie has been plowed or overrun by non-native species such as [[Bromus tectorum|cheatgrass]]. The native prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States,<ref>Noss, R.F., E.T. LaRoe III, and J.M. Scott. 1995. Endangered ecosystems of the United States: a preliminary assessment of loss and degradation. U.S. National Biological Service. Biological Report 28.</ref> as only a little over one percent of the original prairie still exists. The only large preserved patches of this ecosystem left are found in [[Hells Canyon National Recreation Area]] and in the southern portion of [[Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area]] in Washington.<ref name="WWF" />

[[Riparian]] areas offer breeding habitat for a greater diversity of birds than any other habitat in the U.S. (Ratti and Scott 1991). Loss of trees and shrubs along stream corridors means fewer birds and eventually fewer species. The majority of riparian areas have been lost across the bioregion.

Lately, conversion of agricultural lands to suburban homesites on large plots invites a new suite of biodiversity onto the Palouse Prairie. [[University of Idaho]] wildlife professor J. Ratti documented changes in bird community composition over a 10-year period as he converted a wheat field into a suburban wildlife refuge. As of 1991, his {{convert|15|acre|m2|adj=on}} yard attracted 86 species of birds, an increase from 18 (Ratti and Scott 1991).

===Ecological transformation===
As population grew, towns and cities appeared changing the complexion of the area. By 1910, there were 22,000 people scattered in 30 communities across the Palouse Prairie.

Intensification of agriculture has affected both water quantity and quality. Agriculture has changed the hydrology, increasing peak runoff flows and shortening the length of runoff. The result is more intense erosion and loss of perennial prairie streams. As early as the 1930s soil scientists were noting significant [[downcutting]] of regional rivers (Victor 1935) and expansion of channel width. Higher, faster runoff caused streams to downcut quickly, effectively lowering the water table in immediately adjacent meadows. On the South Palouse River, this process was so efficient that by 1900 farming was possible where it had been too wet previously (Victor 1935). Replacement of perennial grasses with annual crops resulted in more overland flow and less infiltration, which translates at a watershed level to higher peak flows that subside more quickly than in the past. Once perennial prairie streams are now often dry by mid-summer. That has undoubtedly influenced the amphibious and aquatic species. Crop production increased dramatically (200–400%) after the introduction of [[fertilizer]] following World War II.

[[File:Palouse barn and stubble fields.jpg|thumb|left|Farmland on the Palouse]]

Since 1900, 94% of the grasslands and 97% of the wetlands in the Palouse ecoregion have been converted to crop, hay, or pasture lands. Approximately 63% of the lands in forest cover in 1900 are still forested, 9% are grass, and 7% are regenerating forestlands or shrublands. The remaining 21% of previously forested lands have been converted to agriculture or urban areas.

The impacts of domestic grazers on the grasslands of the Palouse and Camas Prairies was transitory because much of the areas were rapidly converted to agriculture. However, the canyonlands of the [[Snake River|Snake]] and [[Clearwater River (Idaho)|Clearwater]] rivers and their tributaries with their much shallower soils, steep topography, and hotter, drier climate, were largely unsuitable for crop production and were consequently used for a much longer period by grazing domestic animals (Tisdale 1986). There, intense grazing and other disturbances have resulted in irreversible changes with the native grasses largely replaced by annual grasses of the genus [[Bromus]] and noxious weeds, particularly from the genus [[Centaurea]]. The highly competitive plants of both of these genera evolved under similar climatic regimes in Eurasia and were introduced to the U.S. in the late 19th century.

With the adoption of [[no-till farming]] practices in the Palouse region in the early 2000s,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20902500/DavidHuggins/NoTill.pdf|title=No Till : the Quiet Revolution|website=Ars.usda.gov|access-date=2 January 2017}}</ref> the negative environmental [[Environmental impact of agriculture|impact of agriculture]] has visibly decreased.

=== Fauna ===
Some animals in the region include both [[Mule deer|mule]] and [[white-tailed deer]], [[coyote]]s, [[bobcat]]s, [[California quail]]s, [[yellow-bellied marmot]]s, and [[red-tailed hawk]]s.

== Fires ==
While there is some debate over how frequently the Palouse prairie burned historically, there is consensus that [[Wildfire|fires]] are generally less frequent today than in the past, primarily due to fire suppression, construction of roads (which serve as barriers to fire spread) and conversion of grass and forests to cropland (Morgan et al. 1996). Historians recount lightning-ignited fires burning in the pine fringes bordering the prairies in late autumn, but the extent to which forest fires spread into the prairie or the converse is not known. Some fire ecologists believe the [[Nez Perce (tribe)|Nez Perce]] burned the Palouse and Camas Prairies to [[Native American use of fire in ecosystems|encourage growth]] of [[Camassia|camas]] (Morgan, pers. comm.); but there is little historical record of it. European-American settlers used fire to clear land for settlement and grazing until the 1930s. Since then, forest fires have become less common. One result has been increasing tree density on forested lands and encroachment of shrubs and trees into previously open areas. 

==See also==
* [[Appaloosa]]
* [[Battle of the Palouse]] - college football rivalry game
* [[Coeur d'Alene War]]
* [[Okanagan Desert]]
* [[Steptoe Butte]]
* [[Palouse Falls]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040607215857/http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap10addfig.html Chapter 10: Additional Figures - Biodiversity and Land-use History of the Palouse Bioregion: Pre-European to Present] - Sisk, T.D., editor. 1998. ''Perspectives on the land-use history of North America: a context for understanding our changing environment''. U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Biological Science Report USGS/BRD/BSR 1998-0003 (Revised September 1999)..
* Meinig, D.W. 1968. ''The Great Columbia Plains: A Historical Geography, 1805-1910.'' University of Seattle Press, Seattle (Revised 1995). {{ISBN|0-295-97485-0}}.
* Morgan, P., S.C. Bunting, A.E. Black, T. Merrill, and S. Barrett. 1996. Fire regimes in the Interior Columbia River Basin: past and present. Final Report, RJVA-INT-94913. Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Missoula, Mont. 
* Ratti, J.T., and J.M. Scott. 1991. Agricultural impacts on wildlife: problem review and restoration needs. The Environmental Professional 13:263-274.
* Tisdale, E.W. 1986. Canyon grasslands and associated shrublands of west-central Idaho and adjacent areas. Bulletin No. 40. Forestry, Wildlife and Range Experiment Station, University of Idaho, Moscow.
* Victor, E. 1935. Some effects of cultivation upon stream history and upon the topography of the Palouse region. Northwest Science 9(3):18-19.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/ecoregions/50813frame.htm Palouse grasslands images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu] ([http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/ecoregions/50813.htm slow modem version])
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120904032040/http://palouseprairie.org/literature/biblio_DS.pdf A Palouse Bibliography], Compiled by David M. Skinner, [http://www.palouseprairie.org/literature/ Palouse Prairie Foundation bibliographies.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071123031814/http://www.bartleby.com/69/27/P00827.html Palouse River], The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000.
*[http://www.appaloosamuseum.org/ The Appaloosa Museum]
*[https://archive.today/20131116050401/http://shop.photographamerica.com/The-Palouse-Washington-p/054-pdf.htm Photograph America: The Palouse, Washington]
*[http://www.luminous-landscape.com/locations/palouse.shtml The Luminous Landscape: The Palouse]
*[https://www.photohound.co/guide/palouse A photographic guide to the Palouse]
*[http://video.idahoptv.org/video/1463715798 A Palouse Paradise] Documentary produced by ''[[Idaho Public Television]]''
*{{WWF ecoregion|name=Palouse grasslands (World Wildlife Fund)|id=na0813}}
*''[http://serc.carleton.edu/vignettes/collection/25469.html Eureka Flat: How glacial outburst floods started the dust engine of the Pacific Northwest],'' [http://www.uvm.edu/%7Egeomorph/textbook/ Textbook - Key Concepts in Geomorphology.] The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont.

{{Idaho}}
{{Oregon}}
{{Washington}}

[[Category:Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of the United States]]
[[Category:Grasslands of the United States]]
[[Category:Natural history of Idaho]]
[[Category:Natural history of Oregon]]
[[Category:Natural history of Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Geography of Idaho]]
[[Category:Regions of Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Ecoregions of Oregon]]
[[Category:Nearctic ecoregions]]