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119-485: The Living Building Challenge was launched in 2006 by the Cascadia Green Building Council (a chapter of both the U.S. Green Building Council and Canada Green Building Council ). It was created by Jason F. McLennan and Bob Berkebile of BNIM , an architecture and design firm. McLennan brought the program to Cascadia when he became its CEO in 2006. The International Living Building Institute

238-458: A moment magnitude of 9.2 (more than a thousand times as powerful as the 1989 San Francisco earthquake ). The time of day (5:36 pm), time of year (spring) and location of the epicenter were all cited as factors in potentially sparing thousands of lives, particularly in Anchorage. Alaska suffered a more severe megathrust earthquake on July 11, 1585, estimated at magnitude 9.25, which remains

357-409: A territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. Abundant natural resources have enabled Alaska— with one of the smallest state economies—to have one of the highest per capita incomes , with commercial fishing , and the extraction of natural gas and oil, dominating Alaska's economy . U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism also contribute to

476-485: A 2020 poll by Glacier Media and Research Co. has shown a significant growth of support for Cascadia and British Columbia as a standalone independent country. As a standalone country, support has gone up to 27 percent from 17 percent in 2018 and 2019. British Columbians aged 18 to 34 are more likely to feel that the province could be independent (37% growth in support) than those aged 35 to 54 (28% growth in support) and those aged 55 and over (18% growth in support). Support for

595-452: A coalition of regional planners, scholars, and policy-makers. This group defines a megaregion as an area where "boundaries [between metropolitan regions] begin to blur, creating a new scale of geography". These areas have interlocking economic systems, shared natural resources and ecosystems, and common transportation systems link these population centers together. This area contains 17 percent of Cascadian land mass, but more than 80 percent of

714-399: A convoy to Valdez. On the advice of military and civilian leaders, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard deployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday

833-495: A great, free, and independent empire on that side of our continent, and that liberty and self-government spreading from that as well as from this side, will insure their complete establishment over the whole. It would be an afflicting thing, indeed, should the English be able to break up the settlement. Their bigotry to the bastard liberty of their own country, and habitual hostility to every degree of freedom in any other, will induce

952-577: A judicial system, and a system of subscriptions to defray expenses. Members of the ultra-American party insisted that the final lines of the Organic Act would be "until such time as the USA extend their jurisdiction over us" to try to end the Oregon Territorial independence movement. George Abernethy was elected its first and only Provisional Governor. From the mid-1850s to the early 1860s,

1071-510: A key point for many Cascadian and first nation organizers, who argue that indigenous self-determination cannot be gained legally under the framework of the United States constitution. An 1813 letter from American statesman Thomas Jefferson to fur tycoon John Jacob Astor congratulated Astor on the establishment of Fort Astoria (the coastal fur trade post of Astor's Pacific Fur Company ) and described Fort Astoria as "the germ of

1190-406: A longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. At 663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km ) in total area, Alaska is by far the largest state in the United States. Alaska is more than twice the size of the second-largest U.S. state (Texas), and it is larger than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. Alaska is the seventh largest subnational division in

1309-813: A massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of the Valdez city harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega , killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affected Whittier , Seward , Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property in British Columbia, Washington , Oregon , and California . Tsunamis also caused damage in Hawaii and Japan . Evidence of motion directly related to

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1428-670: A population that was genetically separate from other native groups present elsewhere in the New World at the end of the Pleistocene . Ben Potter, the University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeologist who unearthed the remains at the Upward Sun River site in 2013, named this new group Ancient Beringian . The Tlingit people developed a society with a matrilineal kinship system of property inheritance and descent in what

1547-521: A project can pursue, all of which are awarded on performance. Cascadia movement The Cascadia movement is a bioregional independence movement based in the Cascadia bioregion of western North America. Potential boundaries differ, with some drawn along existing political state and provincial lines, and others drawn along larger ecological, cultural, political, and economic boundaries. The proposed country or region largely would consist of

1666-473: A resurgence in popularity following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States on November 8, 2016, with a secession referendum proposed in Oregon. The individuals who put forward the proposal have since withdrawn their petition. Several new Cascadia organizations have also formed in that time period. Immediately after Trump's election, a series of Yes Cascadia meetings were formed to explore

1785-462: A secretive republic (the former Washington, Oregon, and northern California) 20 years after their secession from the U.S. At first wary and uncomfortable, Weston is shown a society that has been centrally planned, scaled down, and readapted to fit within the constraints of environmental sustainability . Cascadia is an idea rooted in bioregionalism . Cascadians believe that the Cascadia bioregion

1904-649: A total of 50 Aleut civilians and eight sailors were interned in Japan. About half of the Aleuts died during the period of internment. Unalaska / Dutch Harbor and Adak became significant bases for the United States Army , United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy. The United States Lend-Lease program involved flying American warplanes through Canada to Fairbanks and then Nome ; Soviet pilots took possession of these aircraft, ferrying them to fight

2023-475: A wide diversity of civic leaders and organizations. The "Main Street Cascadia" transportation corridor concept was formed by former mayor of Seattle Paul Schell during 1991 and 1992. Schell later defended his cross-border efforts during the 1999 American Planning Association convention, saying "that Cascadia represents better than states, countries and cities the cultural and geographical realities of

2142-624: Is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America . Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii . Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost (the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian into the eastern hemisphere) state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and

2261-697: Is a better representation of place, and the people and inhabitants living there, than the current United States or Canadian borders or state lines, which they feel arbitrarily divides the geography and communities living within it. The early Cascadia movement was formed through a series of Cascadia "Bioregional Congresses" held in the early 1980s. They were a regional extension of the North American Bioregional Congresses (NABC), and were designed to alternate in tandem with continental and regionally focused meetings about social needs and governance. The first Cascadia Bioregional Congress

2380-587: Is based on actual, rather than modeled or anticipated, performance. Therefore, projects must be operational for at least 12 consecutive months prior to evaluation. Types of projects which can be certified include but are not limited to existing or new buildings, single-family residential, multi-family residential, institutional buildings (government, education, research, or religious), commercial (offices, hospitality, retail), and medical or laboratory buildings. There are 3 certification pathways, Living Building Certification, Petal Certification, and Zero Energy Certification

2499-797: Is based on the testimony of Chukchi geographer Nikolai Daurkin, who had visited Alaska in 1764–1765 and who had reported on a village on the Kheuveren River, populated by "bearded men" who "pray to the icons ". Some modern researchers associate Kheuveren with Koyuk River . The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian Cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for

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2618-884: Is bordered by Canada's Yukon and British Columbia to the east (making it the only state to border only a Canadian territory ); the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest; the Bering Sea , Bering Strait , and Chukchi Sea to the west; and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only 3 miles (4.8 km) apart. Alaska has

2737-492: Is divided into boroughs . Delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional county system and adopted their own unique model. Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states. Unlike county-equivalents in the other states, the boroughs do not cover

2856-535: Is estimated that more than 500,000 people lived within the region in dozens of nations, such as the Tillamook , Chinook , Haida , Nootka , and Tlingit . They lived and traded largely within the Cascadia Bioregion, using its extensive system of waterways for transport and pre-colonial trade. They spoke many different languages. Indigenous sovereignty, the rights of nature, and decolonization remain

2975-569: Is home to Mount Shishaldin , which is an occasionally smoldering volcano that rises to 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the North Pacific. The chain of volcanoes extends to Mount Spurr , west of Anchorage on the mainland. Geologists have identified Alaska as part of Wrangellia , a large region consisting of multiple states and Canadian provinces in the Pacific Northwest , which is actively undergoing continent building . One of

3094-629: Is known for its massive reserves of crude oil and contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field . The city of Utqiaġvik , formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area , anchored by Kotzebue and also containing the Kobuk River valley, is often considered part of this region. The respective Inupiat of

3213-455: Is maintained by the Office of History and Archaeology. The survey's inventory of cultural resources includes objects, structures, buildings, sites, districts, and travel ways, with a general provision that they are more than fifty years old. As of 31 January 2012 , more than 35,000 sites have been reported. Alaska is not divided into counties , as most of the other U.S. states, but it

3332-516: Is now Southeast Alaska , became the capital of Russian America . It remained the capital after the colony was transferred to the United States. The Russians never fully colonized Alaska, and the colony was never very profitable. Evidence of Russian settlement in names and churches survives throughout southeastern Alaska. In 1867, William H. Seward , the United States Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson , negotiated

3451-617: Is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government as public lands, including a multitude of national forests , national parks, and national wildlife refuges . Of these, the Bureau of Land Management manages 87 million acres (35 million hectares), or 23.8% of the state. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . It is the world's largest wildlife refuge, comprising 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares). Of

3570-532: Is proportionally the second highest of any U.S. state, at over 15 percent, after only Hawaii. The name "Alaska" ( Russian : Аля́ска , romanized :  Aljáska ) was introduced during the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula . It was derived from an Aleut-language idiom , alaxsxaq , meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which

3689-580: Is technically part of the continental U.S. , but is not usually included in the colloquial use of the term; Alaska is not part of the contiguous U.S. , often called " the Lower 48 ". The capital city, Juneau , is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. The largest lake in Alaska is Lake Illiamna . The state

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3808-618: Is the largest glacier in North America, covering 2,008 square miles (5,200 km ) alone. There are no officially defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are five/six regions that the state is most commonly broken up into: The most populous region of Alaska contains Anchorage , the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula . Rural, mostly unpopulated areas south of

3927-596: Is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States, but also has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere . Alaska is the only non- contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory consisting of British Columbia (in Canada ) separates Alaska from Washington . It

4046-607: Is the umbrella organization for the Living Building Challenge and the Cascadia Green Building Council, along with The Natural Step US and Ecotone Publishing. The end goal of the Living Building Challenge is to encourage the creation of a regenerative built environment. The challenge is an attempt "to raise the bar for building standards from doing less harm to contributing positively to the environment." It "acts to rapidly diminish

4165-614: Is today Southeast Alaska, along with parts of British Columbia and the Yukon . Also in Southeast were the Haida , now well known for their unique arts. The Tsimshian people came to Alaska from British Columbia in 1887, when President Grover Cleveland , and later the U.S. Congress, granted them permission to settle on Annette Island and found the town of Metlakatla, Alaska . All three of these peoples, as well as other indigenous peoples of

4284-650: The Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Prince William Sound, spilling more than 11 million gallons (42 megalitres) of crude oil over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Today, the battle between philosophies of development and conservation is seen in the contentious debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed Pebble Mine . Located at the northwest corner of North America , Alaska

4403-569: The 2017 British Columbia general election to advocate for sovereignty for the Cascadia bioregion . It did not run any candidates in the 2020 British Columbia general election . In May 2021, the Cascadia Bioregional Party was established, advocating the independence of the Cascadian Bioregion from the United States and Canada, and several social, environmental and economic reforms. In British Columbia ,

4522-583: The Alaska Peninsula are considered part of the Southwest, with the Aleutian Islands often (but not always) being grouped in as well. While primarily part of Southwest Alaska when grouped economically, the Aleutian islands are sometimes recognized as an alternate group from the rest of the region due to the geographic separation from the continent. More than 300 small volcanic islands make up this chain, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) into

4641-755: The Alaska Purchase (referred to pejoratively as Seward's Folly) with the Russians for $ 7.2 million. Russia's contemporary ruler Tsar Alexander II , the Emperor of the Russian Empire , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland , also planned the sale; the purchase was made on March 30, 1867. Six months later the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged; the formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. In

4760-631: The Alaska Purchase . The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest , the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau , the former capital Sitka , and Ketchikan , at one time Alaska's largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area and country, as only three communities ( Haines , Hyder and Skagway ) enjoy direct connections to

4879-669: The Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains also fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez . Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage , this is the region of Alaska closest to the contiguous states. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following

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4998-581: The Bering land bridge . The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America , which spanned most of the current state and promoted and maintained a native Alaskan Creole population. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$ 7.2 million (equivalent to $ 157 million in 2023). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as

5117-465: The Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon , including the major cities of Seattle , Vancouver , and Portland . When all parts of the bioregion are included, Cascadia would stretch from coastal Alaska in the north into Northern California in the south, and inland to include parts of Idaho , Montana , Nevada , Utah , Wyoming , and Yukon . More conservative advocates propose borders that include

5236-667: The National Wildlife Refuge system , parts of 25 rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system , 3.3 million acres (13,000 km ) to National Forest lands , and 43.6 million acres (176,000 km ) to National Park land . Because of the Act, Alaska now contains two-thirds of all American national parklands. Today, more than half of Alaskan land is owned by the Federal Government . In 1989,

5355-483: The September 11 attacks set back the movement's momentum for some time, the concept has continued to become more ingrained into society and the public consciousness. In January 2011, Time magazine included Cascadia number eight on a list of "Top 10 Aspiring Nations", noting it "has little chance of ever becoming a reality". Alaska Alaska ( / ə ˈ l æ s k ə / ə- LASS -kə )

5474-622: The province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border, in the Bering Strait , with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug . The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically, it is a semi-exclave of the U.S., and is the largest exclave in the world. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than

5593-418: The public record in Alaska. The state is divided into 34 recording districts which are centrally administered under a state recorder . All recording districts use the same acceptance criteria, fee schedule, etc., for accepting documents into the public record. Whereas many U.S. states use a three-tiered system of decentralization—state/county/township—most of Alaska uses only two tiers—state/borough. Owing to

5712-565: The 20th largest country in the world, with a land area of 534,572 sq mi (1,384,588 km ), placing it behind Mongolia and ahead of Peru . Its population would be similar in size to that of Ecuador , Zambia , Cambodia , or the Netherlands . The Cascadia movement contains groups and organizations with a wide range of goals and strategies. Some groups, such as the Cascadian Bioregional Party, focus on

5831-469: The 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed. A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies. Broadcast journalist, Genie Chance , assisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on the KENI air waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as

5950-675: The Alaska Division of Emergency Services to respond to any future disasters. The 1968 discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the 1977 completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System led to an oil boom. Royalty revenues from oil have funded large state budgets from 1980 onward. Oil production was not the only economic value of Alaska's land. In the second half of the 20th century, Alaska discovered tourism as an important source of revenue. Tourism became popular after World War II when military personnel stationed in

6069-548: The Angus Reid Group they had the most in common with Washington) More telling, in 1991, there was a much greater degree of mutual recognition between British Columbia and Alberta, and other parts of Canada. While it is difficult to gauge support for Cascadia specifically in Washington and Oregon, because no research has been done for those states, support for the idea of secession is at one of its highest points in

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6188-580: The Cascadian population. Programs such as the enhanced driver's license program can be used to more easily cross the border between Washington and British Columbia. Cascadian secessionist movements generally state that their political motivations deal mostly with political, economic, cultural, and ecological ties, as well as the beliefs that the eastern federal governments are out of touch, slow to respond, and hinder provincial and state attempts at further bioregional integration. These connections go back to

6307-671: The German invasion of the Soviet Union . The construction of military bases contributed to the population growth of some Alaskan cities. Statehood for Alaska was an important cause of James Wickersham early in his tenure as a congressional delegate. Decades later, the statehood movement gained its first real momentum following a territorial referendum in 1946. The Alaska Statehood Committee and Alaska's Constitutional Convention would soon follow. Statehood supporters also found themselves fighting major battles against political foes, mostly in

6426-593: The North Slope and of the Northwest Arctic seldom consider themselves to be one people. Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some 500 miles (800 km) inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast. Kodiak Island is also located in the Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta , one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of

6545-512: The Oregon Territory, and further back to the Oregon Country, the land most commonly associated with Cascadia, and the last time the region was treated as a single political unit, though administered by two countries. Some have asserted that political protest in the wake of the 2004 United States presidential election appears to be the primary reason for renewed separatist movements throughout states with substantial Democratic majorities, such as Washington and Oregon. Cascadian independence has seen

6664-507: The Pacific Northwest Coast , experienced smallpox outbreaks from the late 18th through the mid- 19th century , with the most devastating epidemics occurring in the 1830s and 1860s, resulting in high fatalities and social disruption. Some researchers believe the first Russian settlement in Alaska was established in the 17th century. According to this hypothesis, in 1648 several koches of Semyon Dezhnyov 's expedition came ashore in Alaska by storm and founded this settlement. This hypothesis

6783-415: The Pacific Northwest. In 1789, a Spanish settlement and fort were built in Nootka Sound . These expeditions gave names to places such as Valdez , Bucareli Sound , and Cordova . Later, the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early-to-mid-19th century. Sitka , renamed New Archangel from 1804 to 1867, on Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in what

6902-439: The Pacific Ocean. Some of these islands fall in the Eastern Hemisphere, but the International Date Line was drawn west of 180° to keep the whole state, and thus the entire North American continent, within the same legal day. Two of the islands, Attu and Kiska , were occupied by Japanese forces during World War II. According to an October 1998 report by the United States Bureau of Land Management , approximately 65% of Alaska

7021-401: The Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter . After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784. Between 1774 and 1800, Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its claim over

7140-479: The Seattle campus that the Pacific Northwest should build a new regional culture: That the West should un-falteringly follow the East in fashions and ideals would be as false and fatal as that America should obey the standards of Europe. Let the West, daring and unprejudiced, discover its own ideals and follow them. The American standard in literature and philosophy has long been fixed by the remote East. Something wild and free, something robust and full will come out of

7259-529: The South, and 47 percent of Democrats in the Pacific supporting the idea of secession. In this survey, Brightline used the regional union of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and California as the Pacific regional union. Overall, support for the idea of secession was 37 percent in the US in general. In a 2022 poll, the Center for Politics at University of Virginia ran a poll that found similar results, finding that 52 percent of Trump voters and 41 percent of Biden voters at least somewhat agree that "it's time to split

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7378-405: The State of Jefferson won the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for Reporting . In 1956, groups from Cave Junction, Oregon and Dunsmuir, California threatened to tear Southern Oregon and Northern California from their respective state rulers to form the State of Jefferson. Ernest Callenbach 's environmental Utopian novel Ecotopia (1975) follows an American reporter, William Weston, on his tour through

7497-436: The U.S. Congress but also within Alaska. Statehood was approved by the U.S. Congress on July 7, 1958; Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959. On March 27, 1964, the massive Good Friday earthquake killed 133 people and destroyed several villages and portions of large coastal communities, mainly by the resultant tsunamis and landslides. It was the fourth-most-powerful earthquake in recorded history, with

7616-410: The Union, Thomas Starr King was honored as one of the two "heroes of California" in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection until 2009, when his statue was replaced by one of Ronald Reagan . While independence movements during this time failed to take root, Adella M. Parker , president of the University of Washington Alumni Association, argued in her speech at the groundbreaking of

7735-428: The West and be recognized in the final American type. Under the shadow of those great mountains a distinct personality shall arise, it shall adopt other fashions, create new ideals, and generations shall justify them. —With Due Formality, 1894 After attempts in the mid-19th century at forming a State of Jefferson prior to becoming Oregon and then again in the 1930s, citizens attempted the best known of such movements in

7854-427: The Wolf Meetings, a majority voted to establish an independent republic. Action was postponed by George Abernethy of the Methodist Mission to wait on forming an independent country. In May 1843, the settlers in the Oregon Country created their first western-style government as a Provisional Government. Several months later the Organic Laws of Oregon were drawn up to create a legislature, an executive committee,

7973-446: The action of the sea is directed". Numerous indigenous peoples occupied Alaska for thousands of years before the arrival of European peoples to the area. Linguistic and DNA studies done here have provided evidence for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge . At the Upward Sun River site in the Tanana Valley in Alaska, remains of a six-week-old infant were found. The baby's DNA showed that she belonged to

8092-465: The area by proposing that Southern Oregon and Northern California secede from their respective state governments to form a separate state within the United States. A perceived lack of attention and resources from their state governments led to the adoption of a flag design bearing a gold pan and two X's, a " double cross ." The movement quickly ended, however, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Stanton Delaplane 's coverage of

8211-451: The attempt." The same year of Jefferson's letter, Fort Astoria was sold to the British North West Company , which was based in Montreal . John Quincy Adams agreed with Jefferson's views about Fort Astoria, and labeled the entire Northwest as "the empire of Astoria", although he also saw the whole continent as "destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation." As late as the 1820s James Monroe and Thomas Hart Benton thought

8330-439: The ceremony, 250 uniformed U.S. soldiers marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill", where the Russian troops lowered the Russian flag and the U.S. flag was raised. This event is celebrated as Alaska Day , a legal holiday on October 18. Alaska was loosely governed by the military initially and was administered as a district starting in 1884, with a governor appointed by the United States president. A federal district court

8449-422: The city proper and the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak, Peters Creek, Girdwood, Bird, and Indian. Fairbanks has a separate borough (the Fairbanks North Star Borough ) and municipality (the City of Fairbanks). The state's most populous city is Anchorage , home to 291,247 people in 2020. The richest location in Alaska by per capita income is Denali ($ 42,245). Yakutat City , Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage are

8568-538: The communities and area as an alternative to capitalism and the nation state. The Cascadian Bioregional Flag, also known as the Doug Flag, or simply the Cascadia Flag, is a commonly accepted symbol for the Cascadia movement. It was designed in 1994 by Portland native Alexander Baretich. It is intended to be a direct representation of the bioregion, with green for the forests, blue for the waters, and white for

8687-429: The community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $ 110 million. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

8806-410: The contiguous North American road system. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska; much of it is uninhabited wilderness. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali , formerly Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain in North America and is also located here. The North Slope is mostly tundra peppered with small villages. The area

8925-791: The corridor from Eugene to Vancouver, B.C." Schell also formed the Cascadia Mayors Council, bringing together mayors from cities along the corridor from Whistler, British Columbia , to Medford, Oregon . The last meeting was held in May 2004. Other cross-border groups were set up in the 1990s, such as the Cascadia Economic Council and the Cascadia Corridor Commission. The region is served by several cooperative organizations and interstate or international agencies, especially since 2008 with

9044-513: The country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union". This builds on earlier work by Zogby International, which in 2018 conducted a national poll that found that 39 percent of Americans support the idea of independence, with 68 percent of people being open to a state's or region's right to peacefully secede from the United States, the highest rate since the American Civil War. This number included 41 percent of Democrats, with

9163-717: The creation of a "Pacific Republic". When the Southern states of the U.S. seceded to form the Confederate States of America , some Oregon Territory settlers reacted to the instability of the union as another opportunity to seek independence. The leader of California's federal forces at the outset of the Civil War was himself a supporter of the Confederate cause, but that movement proved weaker than its opposition. For his role in convincing Californians to remain in

9282-462: The damage done by the earthquake to the city. The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed by Ruth A. M. Schmidt , a geology professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage . The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that

9401-575: The earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas . Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologist Lidia Selkregg , the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess

9520-466: The economy; more than half of the state is federally-owned land containing national forests , national parks , and wildlife refuges . It is among the most irreligious states , one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana , and is known for its libertarian-leaning political culture, generally supporting the Republican Party in national elections. The Indigenous population of Alaska

9639-467: The following three largest states of Texas , California , and Montana combined, and is the seventh-largest subnational division in the world . It is the third-least populous and most sparsely populated U.S. state, but is, with a population of 736,081 as of 2020 , the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel , with more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland . The state contains

9758-481: The four largest cities in the U.S. by area . As reflected in the 2020 United States census , Alaska has a total of 355 incorporated cities and census-designated places (CDPs). The tally of cities includes four unified municipalities, essentially the equivalent of a consolidated city–county . The majority of these communities are located in the rural expanse of Alaska known as " The Bush " and are unconnected to that contiguous North American road network. The table at

9877-416: The four largest cities in the United States by area , including the state capital of Juneau . The state's most populous city is Anchorage , and approximately half of Alaska's residents live within its metropolitan area . Indigenous people have lived in Alaska for thousands of years, and it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of

9996-400: The gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek" by challenging architects, contractors, and building owners. The Living Building Challenge employs the use of a flower metaphor for the framework. According to founder Jason F. McLennan , flowers are an accurate representation of a truly regenerative building which receives all of its energy from the sun, nutrients from

10115-500: The history of the United States. In 2021, a study was conducted by Brightline Watch of 2,750 Americans between June 16 and June 26 that asked "Would you support or oppose (your state) seceding from the United States to join a new union (list of five regional unions)?". The poll found that support for the idea of regional secession was highest in the Pacific and Southern regions, with 66 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of independents in

10234-594: The idea Cascadia specifically, of joining with Washington and Oregon in some fashion held quite a positive view, especially among younger generations, with those in support aged 18 to 34 at 66 percent, 60 percent of those aged 35 to 54 and 48 percent of those aged 55 and over. Support for the “Wexit” movement in Alberta remains low at 15 percent. A poll commissioned by the Western Standard magazine in 2005 asked whether "western Canadians should begin to explore

10353-472: The idea of a Cascadia Secession Movement gathering hundreds of people in person, later changing their name to Vote Cascadia. Members of the Cascadian independence movement have declared May 18 as "Cascadia Day", in recognition of the lateral eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 , with the week surrounding that date being "Cascadia Culture Week". The Cascadia Party of British Columbia formed in 2016 and nominated two candidates, though neither were elected, in

10472-637: The idea of forming their own country", and 35.6 percent of respondents from Western Canada agreed. Angus Reid conducted a four part study on Western Canadian identity and surveyed 4,024 Canadians in late December and early January 2017 and 2018. It showed that 54 percent of British Columbians felt they had the most in common with Washington state, 18 percent picked California while just 15 per cent chose Alberta, 9 percent chose Ontario, and less than 3 percent chose Manitoba, Saskatchewan or another Canadian area. This connection, while not new, has steadily continued to grow. (In 1991, fully half of B.C. respondents told

10591-556: The independence of the Cascadian bioregion while others, such as the Cascadia Department of Bioregion, a 501(c)3 non-profit, seek to build a bioregionalist network as an alternative to the nation-state structure. There are several reasons why the Cascadia movement aims to foster connections and a sense of place within the Pacific Northwest region and strive toward independence. The main reasons stated by

10710-597: The land west of the crest of the Cascade Range , while some advocates propose borders as far north as Alaska and the Yukon region . As measured only by the combination of present Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia statistics, Cascadia would be home to more than 17 million people, and would have an economy generating more than US$ 1.1 trillion worth of goods and services annually. This number would increase if portions of Northern California, Idaho, and Southern Alaska were also included. By land area Cascadia would be

10829-410: The largest demographic supporting the idea being Black Americans at 47 percent, replacing the previous current highest block (which had been Latinos 51% in 2017), and followed by Republicans at 39 percent. However, none of these studies are specifically about forming an independent Cascadia. The movement saw much discussion in the 1990s, and while the increase in security and American nationalism after

10948-432: The largest private landowner in Alaska in advertisements and other communications. Provisions of ANCSA allowing the corporations' land holdings to be sold on the open market starting in 1991 were repealed before they could take effect. Effectively, the corporations hold title (including subsurface title in many cases, a privilege denied to individual Alaskans) but cannot sell the land. Individual Native allotments are sold on

11067-637: The low population density, most of the land is located in the Unorganized Borough . As the name implies, it has no intermediate borough government but is administered directly by the state government. In 2000, 57.71% of Alaska's area has this status, with 13.05% of the population. Anchorage merged the city government with the Greater Anchorage Area Borough in 1975 to form the Municipality of Anchorage, containing

11186-808: The most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history, and the second most powerful earthquake recorded in world history. The Good Friday earthquake lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup. Soil liquefaction , fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property. Anchorage sustained great destruction or damage to many inadequately earthquake-engineered houses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other human-made equipment), particularly in

11305-488: The movement include environmentalism, bioregionalism , privacy, civil liberties and freedom, increased regional integration, and local food networks and economies. The designer of the Doug flag , Alexander Baretich, claims that Cascadia is not necessarily about secession but is rather about survival after the collapse of peak oil , global warming , and other pending environmental and socioeconomic problems. Before 1800, it

11424-522: The often remote and roadless locations. The University of Alaska , as a land grant university , also owns substantial acreage which it manages independently. Another 44 million acres (18 million hectares) are owned by 12 regional, and scores of local, Native corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Regional Native corporation Doyon, Limited often promotes itself as

11543-412: The open market. Various private interests own the remaining land, totaling about one percent of the state. Alaska is, by a large margin, the state with the smallest percentage of private land ownership when Native corporation holdings are excluded. The Alaska Heritage Resources Survey (AHRS) is a restricted inventory of all reported historic and prehistoric sites within the U.S. state of Alaska; it

11662-428: The rebuilt infrastructure would be safe. The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. The U.S. Army rapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched

11781-602: The region returned home praising its natural splendor. The Alcan Highway , built during the war, and the Alaska Marine Highway System , completed in 1963, made the state more accessible than before. Tourism has become increasingly important in Alaska, and today over 1.4 million people visit the state each year. With tourism more vital to the economy, environmentalism also rose in importance. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980 added 53.7 million acres (217,000 km ) to

11900-635: The region west of the Rockies would be an independent nation. Elements among the region's white American population starting in the 1840s sought to form their own country, despite their small number. Oregon pioneer John McLoughlin was employed as the Chief Factor (regional administrator) by the Hudson's Bay Company for the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver . McLoughlin

12019-408: The region. During 1940 and 1941, organizers attracted media attention by arming themselves and blockading Highway 99 to the south of Yreka, California , where they collected tolls from motorists and passed out proclamations of independence. When a California Highway Patrol officer arrived at the scene, he was told to "get down the road back to California". The movement was created to draw attention to

12138-514: The remaining land area, the state of Alaska owns 101 million acres (41 million hectares), its entitlement under the Alaska Statehood Act . A portion of that acreage is occasionally ceded to the organized boroughs presented above, under the statutory provisions pertaining to newly formed boroughs. Smaller portions are set aside for rural subdivisions and other homesteading-related opportunities. These are not very popular due to

12257-555: The several landslide zones along Knik Arm . Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas near Kodiak were permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise the Seward Highway above the new high tide mark. In Prince William Sound , Port Valdez suffered

12376-580: The signing of the Pacific Coast Collaborative which places new emphasis on bio-regionally coordinated policies on the environmental, forestry and fishery management, emergency preparedness and critical infrastructure, regional high-speed rail and road transportation as well as tourism. The area from Vancouver, B.C. down to Portland has been termed an emerging megaregion by the National Committee for America 2050,

12495-501: The snow-capped mountains, with a Douglas Fir tree to symbolize the resilience of the region. Writing about the flag's symbolism Baretich said: The Cascadia flag conveys something more tangible than an abstract concept of demarcation of space. It is not a flag of blood nor of the glory of a nation, but a love of the bioregion; our ecological family, natural boundaries & the place in which we live & love. The idea of Cascadia as an economic cross-border region has been embraced by

12614-540: The soil, and water from the sky. Similar to a flower, they simultaneously shelter other organisms and support the surrounding ecosystem. They also serve as beauty and inspiration and adapt to their surroundings. Meanwhile, the petals of the flower represent each performance area in the framework. These petals include Materials, Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Equity, and Beauty. Living Building Challenge has seven performance areas: site, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. Certification

12733-546: The south, to Mt. St. Alias in the North, and as far east as the Yellowstone Caldera. The delineation of a bioregion is defined through watersheds and ecoregions, with the belief that political boundaries should match ecological and cultural boundaries, and that culture stems from place. Current Cascadian bioregionalists use this framework as an argument for independence, autonomy and what they feel better represents

12852-470: The state's entire land area. The area not part of any borough is referred to as the Unorganized Borough . The Unorganized Borough has no government of its own, but the U.S. Census Bureau in cooperation with the state divided the Unorganized Borough into 11 census areas solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation. A recording district is a mechanism for management of

12971-535: The territory explored ideas of secession, with pro-slavery Democrat Bemjamin Stark laying claim to the idea, supporting the formation of a "Pacific Union", along with California politician William Gwin . British claims north of the Columbia River were ceded to the United States by the contentious Oregon Treaty of 1846. In 1860, there were three different statements from separate influential individuals on

13090-522: The voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building. She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief. Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around

13209-476: The world . If it was an independent nation, it would be the 18th largest country in the world; almost the same size as Iran . With its myriad of islands, Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles (55,000 km) of tidal shoreline. The Aleutian Islands chain extends west from the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula . Many active volcanoes are found in the Aleutians and in coastal regions. Unimak Island , for example,

13328-520: The world's largest tides occurs in Turnagain Arm , just south of Anchorage, where tidal differences can be more than 35 feet (10.7 m). Alaska has more than 409,000 natural lakes at least one hectare or bigger. Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover 188,320 square miles (487,700 km ) (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Glacier ice covers about 28,957 square miles (75,000 km ) of Alaska. The Bering Glacier

13447-624: Was a significant force in the early history of the Oregon Country, and argued for its independence. In 1842 McLoughlin (through his lawyer) advocated an independent nation that would be free of the United States during debates at the Oregon Lyceum . This view won support at first and a resolution was adopted. When the first settlers of the Willamette Valley held a series of politically foundational meetings in 1843, called

13566-477: Was created of and by Cascadia in May 2009 to oversee the Living Building Challenge and its auxiliary programs. The International Living Future Institute is a non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to catalyzing a global transformation toward true sustainability. The Institute seeks partnerships with leaders in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in pursuit of a future that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. The Institute

13685-512: Was extremely limited or unavailable until statehood took effect in 1959. Starting in the 1890s and stretching in some places to the early 1910s, gold rushes in Alaska and the nearby Yukon Territory brought thousands of miners and settlers to Alaska. From 1879 to 1920, Alaska produced a cumulative total of over $ 460,000,000 ($ 6,691,927,500 inflation-adjusted) of mineral production. Alaska was officially incorporated as an organized territory in 1912. Alaska's capital, which had been in Sitka until 1906,

13804-492: Was formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits at Prudhoe Bay . At the order of the U.S. Defense Department , the Alaska National Guard founded

13923-408: Was headquartered in Sitka. For most of Alaska's first decade under the United States flag, Sitka was the only community inhabited by American settlers. They organized a "provisional city government", which was Alaska's first municipal government, but not in a legal sense. Legislation allowing Alaskan communities to legally incorporate as cities did not come about until 1900, and home rule for cities

14042-758: Was held in 1986 at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, followed by the Ish River Bioregional Confluence in 1987, and a Pacific Cascadia Bioregional Congress held in 1988. Each of these gatherings brought together about a hundred people as "delegates" for their watersheds. The Cascadia bioregion is defined by the watersheds of the Fraser, Snake and Columbia River, and encompasses all or portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, British Columbia, and Alberta. It stretches from Cape Mendocino in

14161-779: Was moved north to Juneau . Construction of the Alaska Governor's Mansion began that same year. European immigrants from Norway and Sweden also settled in southeast Alaska, where they entered the fishing and logging industries. During World War II , the Aleutian Islands Campaign focused on Attu , Agattu and Kiska , all of which were occupied by the Empire of Japan . During the Japanese occupation, an American civilian and two United States Navy personnel were killed at Attu and Kiska respectively, and nearly

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