The Intermountain West is a region of North America lying between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to the west. It is also called the Intermountain Region.
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Many of the Intermountain Region's mountains' streams and rivers never reach the sea. Instead they flow into brackish lakes or into desert sinks. Only some rivers are able to reach the ocean. Some portions are made agriculturally productive by irrigation systems. Cattle ranching is practiced in the region as well.
The climate of the Intermountain Region is affected by location and elevation. The winters depend on location. In the southern parts, the winters are short, and have little precipitation, with not as much snow. In the northern portions, the winters are cold and can have significant snow, with hot and dry summers. This portion lacks precipitation as well, but the weather is moderate.
The vegetation ranges from sparse grasslands and sagebrush to other plants that are able to survive in desert or semi-desert conditions in basin-lands. Some higher elevation areas have isolated stands of pine, cedar, and aspen tree forests. Cultivated crops include corn, potatoes, sugar beets, grass hay, and alfalfa. The latter two crops are used for livestock feed.
A large portion of the Intermountain West is most associated with Latter-day Saint (LDS) settlements, and the region now has the highest ratio of LDS members in the United States.[1] That particular portion of the Intermountain West is sometimes called the Mormon Corridor.
Because of its low population density and diverse economy, the survivalist writers James Wesley Rawles[2] and Joel Skousen[3] both recommend the region as a preferred locale for "strategic relocation"[3] and for building survival retreats.
The intermountain states are generally considered to be the area of Idaho south of the Salmon River, Utah, Nevada, as well as the area of Arizona north of the Colorado River, and the parts of Colorado that are just west of the rockies.[4] The intermountain states are so named because they lie between (or at least amidst) the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades. Large areas of these states are less mountainous than the typical mountains found in these states. The intermountain states are included among those states considered as the Mountain States.
