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Oregon (pronounced •, ˈo.ɹɪ.ɡən ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, Washington on the north, Idaho on the east, and California, and Nevada on the south. Much of its northern border lies along the Columbia River and much of the eastern border lies along the Snake River. Two north-south mountain ranges—the Pacific Coast Range and the Cascade Mountain Range—form the two boundaries of the Willamette Valley, one of the most fertile and agriculturally productive regions in the world. Oregon has one of the most diverse landscapes of any state in the US. It is well known for its tall, dense forests and its accessible, scenic Pacific coastline. Other areas include the semiarid scrublands, prairies, and deserts that cover approximately half the state in eastern and north-central Oregon. It is one of the few places in the Northern Hemisphere where lift-serviced alpine skiing is available year round. Oregon's population in 2000 was 3,421,399, a 20.4% increase over 1990. The Census Bureau estimated Oregon's population to have reached 3,594,586 by 2004. • History
Naming
Geography Oregon's geography may be split roughly into six areas: the Coast Range, the Willamette Valley, the Cascade Mountains the Klamath Mountains, the Columbia River Plateau, and the Basin and Range Region. The state varies from rainforest in the Coast Range to barren desert in the southeast, which still meets the technical definition of a frontier. Oregon is 295 miles (475 km) north to south at longest distance, and 395 miles (636 km) east to west at longest distance. In terms of land and water area, Oregon is the ninth largest state, covering 97,073 square miles (251,418 km²). Its highest point is the summit of Mount Hood, at 11,239 feet (3,428 m). As a West Coast state, its lowest point is sea level. Its mean elevation is 3,300 feet (1 km). Crater Lake National Park is the state's only national park, and the site of Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1,943 feet. Similar federally-owned, protected recreation areas that are entirely in Oregon include: John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and Oregon Caves National Monument. Areas that are partly in Oregon and partly in neighboring states include the California National Historic Trail, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, the Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks, the Nez Perce National Historical Park, and the Oregon National Historic Trail. Oregon claims the D River is the shortest river in the world, though the American state of Montana makes the same claim of its Roe River. Guinness World Records has declared that the two rivers are the same length and can both claim the honor. Oregon is also home to the smallest park in the world, Mill Ends Park in Portland. Adjacent states Law and government
State government Oregon state government has a separation of powers similar to the federal government. It has three branches, called departments by the state's constitution: Governors in Oregon serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms, but an unlimited number of total terms. The Secretary of State serves as Lieutenant Governor for statutory purposes. The other constitutional officers are Treasurer, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Labor Commissioner. The Oregon Legislative Assembly consists of a thirty-member State Senate and sixty-member House. Senators serve four-year terms, and Representatives two. The state supreme court has seven elected justices, including the only openly gay state supreme court justice in the nation, Rives Kistler. They choose one of their own to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the United States Supreme Court. Oregon is one of the few states whose legislature is biennial. The debate over whether to move to annual sessions is a long-standing battle in Oregon politics, but the voters have resisted the move from citizen legislators to professional lawmakers. Because Oregon's state budget is written in two year increments and, having no sales tax, its revenue is based largely on income taxes, it is often significantly over- or under-budget. Recent legislatures have had to be called into special session repeatedly to address revenue shortfalls resulting from economic downturns, bringing to a head the need for more frequent legislative sessions. The state maintains formal relationships with the nine federally-recognized tribal governments in Oregon: Oregon is currently seen as a moderate Democratic-leaning state, which has voted for that party in every presidential election since 1988. However, in 2000, Gore won only eight of Oregon's 36 counties, and in 2004, Kerry won just seven, losing in populous, traditionally Democratic Clackamas County. The politics of the state are largely similar to those of neighboring Washington, and like Washington, are closely divided between metropolitan and rural areas. The state legislature is split between the two parties, with Republicans dominating the House of Representatives and Democrats controlling the Senate. In the 2004 general election, the voters banned gay marriage by a vote of 57 to 43 percent, and weakened land use laws across the state. In 2002, voters narrowly elected a Democratic governor. The distribution, sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages are regulated in the state by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. Thus, Oregon is an Alcoholic beverage control state. Entering the Union at a time when the status of "Negroes" was very much in question, and wishing to stay out of the looming conflict between the Union and Confederate States, Oregon banned African Americans from moving into the state in the vote to adopt its Constitution (1858). This ban was not officially lifted until 1925; in 2002, additional language now considered racist was struck from the Oregon Constitution by the voters of Oregon. Federal government Like all U.S. states, Oregon is represented by two U.S. Senators. Since the 1980 census Oregon has had five Congressional districts. After Oregon was admitted to the Union, it began with a single member in the House of Representatives (La Fayette Grover, who served in the 35th United States Congress for less than a month). Congressional apportionment led to the addition of new members following the censuses of 1890, 1910, 1940, and 1980. A detailed list of the past and present Congressional delegations from Oregon is available. The United States District Court for the District of Oregon hears Federal cases in the state. Oregon (among other western states and territories) is in the 9th judicial circuit. Elections For more details on recent elections, see 2004 U.S. presidential election in Oregon and 2006 Oregon statewide elections Oregon adopted many electoral reforms proposed during the Progressive Era, due to the efforts of William S. U'Ren and his Direct Legislation League. Under his leadership, the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 1902 that created the initiative and referendum processes for citizens to directly introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the state constitution. In following years, the primary election to select party candidates was adopted in 1904, and in 1908 the Oregon Constitution was amended to include recall of public officials. More recent amendments include the nation's only doctor-assisted suicide law, called the Death with Dignity law (which was challenged in 2005 by the Bush administration in the U.S. Supreme Court), legalization of medical marijuana, and among the nation's strongest anti-sprawl and pro-environment laws. Of the measures placed on the ballot since 1902, the people have passed 99 of the 288 initiatives and 25 of the 61 referenda on the ballot, though not all of them survived challenges in courts (see Pierce v. Society of Sisters, for example). During the same period, the legislature has referred 363 measures to the people, of which 206 have passed. Oregon has been a pioneer in the use of vote-by-mail: In the U.S. Electoral College, Oregon casts seven votes. Oregon has supported Democratic candidates in the last five elections. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won the state in 2004 by a margin of four percentage points, with 51.4% of the popular vote. Urban Multnomah County's strong support of the Democratic candidate was slightly greater than the support for Republican candidate George W. Bush in the rest of the state. Economy The Willamette Valley is very fertile and, coupled with Oregon's famous rain, gives the state a wealth of agricultural products, including cattle, dairy products, potatoes, peppermint, hops and apples and other fruits. Oregon is also one of four major world hazelnut growing regions, and produces 95% of the domestic hazelnuts in the United States. While the history of the wine production in Oregon can be traced to before Prohibition, it became a significant industry beginning in the 1970s and Oregon is home to ten wine appellations, with three others straddling the Oregon-Washington border. Due to regional similarities of climate and soil, the grapes planted in Oregon are often the same varieties found in the French regions of Alsace and Burgundy. Vast forests have historically made Oregon one of the nation's major timber production and logging states, but forest fires (such as the Tillamook Burn), over-harvesting, and lawsuits over the proper management of the extensive federal forest holdings have reduced the amount of timber produced. According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, timber harvested from federal lands dropped some 96% from 1989 from 4,333 million to 173 million board feet (10,000,000 to 408,000 m³) in 2001. Even the shift in recent years towards finished goods such as paper and building materials has not slowed the decline of the timber industry. Examples include Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of Willamette Industries in January, 2002, the announcement by Louisiana Pacific in September, 2003 that they will relocate their corporate headquarters from Portland to Nashville, and the experiences of small lumber towns like Gilchrist. Despite these changes, Oregon still leads the United States in softwood lumber production; in 2001, according to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, 6,056 million board feet (14,000,000 m³) was produced in Oregon, against 4,5257 mbf. in Washington, 2,731 in California, 2,413 in Georgia, and 2,327 in Mississippi. The effect of the forest industry crunch is still extensive unemployment in rural Oregon and is a bone of contention between rural and urban Oregon. Oregon is a popular location for shooting movies and television commercials. Movies wholly or partially filmed in Oregon include The Goonies, National Lampoon's Animal House, Stand By Me, Kindergarten Cop, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Paint Your Wagon, The Hunted, Sometimes a Great Notion, Elephant, Bandits, The Ring 2, Short Circuit, Come See the Paradise, The Shining, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho and The Postman. Oregon native Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has incorporated many references from his hometown of Portland into the TV series. Oregon's scenic coastal and mountain highways are frequently seen in automobile commercials. High technology industries and services have been a major employer since the 1970s. Tektronix was the largest private employer in Oregon until the late 1980s. Intel's creation and expansion of several facilities in eastern Washington County continued the growth that Tektronix had started. Intel, the state's largest private employer, operates four large facilities, with Ronler Acres, Jones Farm and Hawthorn Farm all located in Hillsboro. The spinoffs and startups that were produced by these two companies led to the establishment in that area of the so-called Silicon Forest. The recession and dot-com bust of 2001 hit the region hard; many high technology employers reduced the number of their employees or went out of business. OSDL made news in 2004 when they hired Linus Torvalds, developer of the Linux kernel. Oregon also is the home of large corporations in other industries such as shoemaker Nike, whose world headquarters is located in Beaverton. Medford is home to two of the largest mail order companies in the country: Harry and David Operations Corp. which sells gift items under several brands, and Musician's Friend an international catalog and Internet retailer of music gear. Portland is home to one of the West's largest trade book publishing houses, Graphic Arts Center Publishing. Oregon had one of the largest salmon-fishing industries in the world, although ocean fisheries have reduced the river fisheries in recent years. Tourism is also strong in the state; Oregon's evergreen mountain forests, waterfalls, pristine lakes (including Crater Lake National Park), and scenic beaches draw visitors year round. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, held in Ashland, is a tourist draw near its Californian border which complements the area's scenic beauty and opportunity for outdoor activities. Oregon is home to a number of smaller breweries and Portland has the largest number of breweries of any city in the world. Oregon's gross state product is $145.35 billion as of 2005. Demographics
Religion The religious affiliations of the people of Oregon are: 2000-2003 population trends Estimates released September 2004 show double-digit growth in Latino and Asian American populations since the 2000 Census. About 60% of the 138,197 new residents come from ethnic and racial minorities. Asian growth is located mostly in the metropolitan areas of Portland, Salem, and Eugene; Hispanic population growth is across the state. Major cities and towns The capital is Salem and the largest city is Portland. Eugene, home of the University of Oregon, is the third largest city, closely following Salem. Oregon City was the first incorporated city west of the Rockies and later, the first capital of the Oregon Territory, from 1848 to 1852, when the territorial capital was moved to Salem, Oregon. It was also the end of the Oregon Trail and the site of the first public library established west of the Rocky Mountains, stocked with only 300 volumes. Colleges and universities The Oregon University System supports seven public universities and one affiliate in the state. The University of Oregon in Eugene is Oregon's flagship liberal arts institution, while Oregon State University in Corvallis is the flagship agricultural school. The State also has three regional universities: Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Southern Oregon University in Ashland, and Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. Portland State University is Oregon's largest and serves as the State's urban school in the Portland Metropolitan Area. The Oregon Institute of Technology has its campus in Klamath Falls. The affiliate Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) comprises a medical, dental, and nursing school in Portland and a science and engineering school in Hillsboro (both graduate-only). Willamette University is the state's oldest university, established during the territorial period. Oregon has historically struggled to fund higher education. Recently, Oregon has cut its higher education budget over the last 5 years and now Oregon ranks 46th in the country in state spending per student. Oregon is home to a wide variety of private colleges, especially in the Portland area. The University of Portland is Oregon's Catholic university. Concordia University, Lewis & Clark College, Marylhurst University, Reed College, Warner Pacific College, and the National College of Natural Medicine are also in Portland. Pacific University is in the suburb of Forest Grove. There are also private colleges further south in the Willamette Valley. McMinnville has Linfield College, while nearby Newberg is home to George Fox University. Salem is home to two private schools, Willamette University and Corban College. In addition to the University of Oregon, Eugene is home to the campuses of Northwest Christian College and Eugene Bible College. Community colleges The state supports seventeen regional community colleges around the state. They offer community education as well as two-year degrees. Colleges belonging to the state are: Professional sports teams
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