SNAKE RIVER PLATEAU

 

Snake River Basin Map

 

The Snake River originates in eastern Idaho, flows across southern Idaho, and turns north to cut one of the deepest canyons in North America, Hells Canyon, (pictures) before entering the Columbia river in southeast Washington. This subregion includes the area of southern Idaho known as the Snake River Plains as well as land in southwestern Idaho to the High Desert country of the Owyhee Mountains. Shoshone and Bannock Indians who now reside on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation once populated the subregion. Many major water storage facilities and associated dams on the Snake river provide irrigation for agricultural production.

Bruneau Dunes -- Snake River Plateau

 

 

Vegetables, potatoes, wheat, and other grains are grown on the plateau. Cattle grazing is also a major land use. Urbanized populations continue to increase in Boise, the state capitol and in Twin Falls and Pocatello in eastern Idaho. The relative proximity to Mormon populations in Utah has influenced the religious affiliation of residents of the subregion. The perception of open unstable desert has attracted military use of the subregion as well as the constant potential of nuclear waste burial.

 

 

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