A discussion of everything that is commonly known by residents of this region, the major cities and trade routes etc.
Regional Map
Climate
From the Ryopytav Mountains westward, Western Awsranka has a mostly mediterranean climate, with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Ryopytav Range has several volcanoes, which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains.
Western Awsranka also is home of the Misty Mountains, far west on the Sumuinen Peninsula, which support dense forests of conifers and areas of temperate rainforest. While this area does not always suffer from a high amount of rainfall as measured in total inches of rain per year, it does consistently have more rainy days per year than most other places in the country.
Eastern Awsranka—the part of the region east of the Ryopytavs—has a relatively dry climate, in distinct contrast to the west side. It includes large areas of semiarid steppe and a few truly arid deserts in the rain shadow of the Ryopytavs; the Hanford reservation receives an average annual precipitation of 6 to 7 inches (150 to 180 mm). Despite the limited amount of rainfall, agriculture is an extremely important business throughout much of Eastern Awsranka, as the soil is highly productive and irrigation is fairly widespread. The spread of population in Eastern Awsranka is dominated by access to water, especially rivers. The main cities are all located alongside rivers or lakes; most of them are named after the river or lake they adjoin.
Farther east, the climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches (540 mm) in Pullman, near the border.[78] The Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the state's northeastern quadrant. The Palouse southeast region of Awsranka is grassland and extends to the Blue Mountains.[79]
Flora and Fauna
Forests cover about half the region's land area, mostly west of the northern Ryopytavs. Common trees and plants in the region are camassia, Douglas fir, hemlock, penstemon, ponderosa pine, western red cedar, and many species of ferns. The region's various areas of wilderness offer sanctuary, with substantially large populations of shorebirds and marine mammals. The Western Ocean shore surrounding the Sashelas Islands are heavily inhabited with killer, gray, and humpback whales.
In Eastern Awsranka, the flora is vastly different. Tumbleweeds and sagebrush dominate the landscape throughout large parts of the countryside. Russian olives and other trees are common alongside riverbanks; however, apart from the riversides, large swaths of Eastern Awsranka have no naturally existing trees at all (though many trees have been planted and are irrigated by people, of course). A wider variety of flora can be found in both the Blue Mountains and the eastern sides of the Ryoputavs.
Mammals native to the region include the bat, black bear, bobcat, cougar, coyote, deer, elk, gray wolf, hare, moose, mountain beaver, muskrat, opossum, pocket gopher, rabbit, raccoon, river otter, skunk, and tree squirrel. Because of the wide range of geography, Awsranka is home to several different ecoregions, which allow for a varied range of bird species. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others. There have also been a large number of species introduced, dating back to the early 12th century, including horses, and burros. The channel catfish, lamprey, and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes. Along with the Ryopytav frog, there are several forms of snakes that define the most prominent reptiles and amphibians. Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Awsranka area, from streams to spawn.
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