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The Fraser Uplands The Fraser Upland Region is situated between the Coast-Cascade Mountains, on the west, and the Columbia Mountains, on the cast, and extends northwestward from the American border to latitude 53°. In reality, it forms the northern segment of the grazing and irrigated crops region of North America, a major geographic region linked by rough topography and a dry climate. Physical Factors Most of the region is a roiling upland, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. Deep, narrow valleys, incised as much as 4,000 feet below the upland sur-face, contain the transportation routes and most of the population. Lying in the direct lee of the Western Mountains, the entire area has a semi-arid climate. The valleys receive less than 15 inches of precipitation annually and, on the whole, irrigation is necessary for any agricultural activity. Here, the natural vegetation is grass, and in the most arid areas where the rainfall is less than 10 inches annually, it consists of drought-resistant bushes such as sagebrush. Slightly higher precipitation (20 inches) is normally recorded in the uplands and, consequently, a forest cover replaces the grasslands of the valleys. Contrasting Landscapes The contrasts in landscape between the coast and the interior are sharp. In a traverse of the Fraser and Thompson River Valleys, the route of the transcontinental railways and the trans-Canada highway from Vancouver to Salmon Arm, the traveller passes from the damp meadowlands of the Lower Fraser Valley, through the dense Coast Forest near Yale, to the forestgrassland transition at Lytton. Eastward, one passes through the grasslands near Ashcroft and a sagebrush cover just east of that point. Irrigated orchards appear east of Kamloops, while the cool, damp forest along the western slopes of the Columbia Mountains near Salmon Arm, indicates the abrupt termination of the dry belt. Home