1.
Paiute
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Paiute refers to three closely related groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada, Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California, Nevada and Utah. Their peoples have become members of federally recognized tribes, as noted in the sections below. In many locations they have colocated with peoples of the Shoshone and Washoe tribes, the Northern and Southern Paiute peoples both speak languages belonging to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native American languages. The terms Paiute, Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute are most correctly applied to refer to groups of people with similar language and it does not imply a political connection or even an especially close genetic relationship. The Northern Paiute speak the Northern Paiute language, while the Southern Paiute speak the Colorado River Numic language and these languages are not as closely related to each other as they are to other Numic languages. The Bannock, Mono, Coso, Timbisha and Kawaiisu peoples, the Bannock speak a dialect of Northern Paiute. But, the Mono Tribe and other three peoples speak distinctly separate Numic languages, Mono is related closely to Northern Paiute. The Timbisha language is related closely to the Shoshoni language. The Kawaiisu language is closely related to Colorado River Numic of the Southern Paiute. The Northern Paiute traditionally have lived in the Great Basin in eastern California, western Nevada, the Northern Paiutes pre-contact lifestyle was well adapted to the harsh desert environment in which they lived. Each tribe or band occupied a territory, generally centered on a lake or wetland that supplied fish. Communal hunt drives, which often involved neighboring bands, would take rabbits, individuals and families appear to have moved freely among the bands. They gathered Pinyon nuts in the mountains in the fall as a winter food source. Women also gathered grass seeds and roots as important parts of their diet, the name of each band was derived from a characteristic food source. For example, the people at Pyramid Lake were known as the Cui Ui Ticutta, the people of the Lovelock area were known as the Koop Ticutta, meaning ground-squirrel eaters, and the people of the Carson Sink were known as the Toi Ticutta, meaning tule eaters. The Kucadikadi of Mono County, California are the brine fly eaters, relations among the Northern Paiute bands and their Shoshone neighbors were generally peaceful. There is no distinction between the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone or Sosone
2.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
3.
Yucca
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Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and they are native to the hot and dry parts of the Americas and the Caribbean. Early reports of the species were confused with the cassava, consequently, Linnaeus mistakenly derived the generic name from the Taíno word for the latter, yuca. It is commonly found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the cluster of flowers on a thin stalk appear as floating apparitions, the natural distribution range of the genus Yucca covers a vast area of the Americas. The genus is represented throughout Mexico and extends into Guatemala and it also extends to the north through Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern United States, through the drier central states as far north as southern Alberta in Canada. Yucca is also native to the lowlands and dry scrub of the Gulf. Yuccas have adapted to an equally vast range of climatic and ecological conditions, Yucca species are the host plants for the caterpillars of the yucca giant-skipper, ursine giant-skipper, and Streckers giant-skipper. Species of yucca have adapted to a variety of climates in mountains, coastal sand, grasslands and prairies as well as rocky badlands. Most species of yucca have thick, waxy skins to prevent loss of water through evaporation and they frequently store water in thick roots. Some yuccas store water in thick, fleshy leaves, some desert plants have an oily coating on their leaves or pads that traps moisture, thereby reducing water loss. Some species drop their leaves during drought to prevent the loss of water through transpiration, dead leaves of yucca collecting against the trunk of the trees help protect it from the sun. The channeled leaves of a yucca direct dew and rainfall water to their roots, yuccas are said to be fire adapted, that is, they grow and spread vigorously after wildfires. Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens, many species also bear edible parts, including fruits, seeds, flowers, flowering stems, and more rarely roots. References to yucca root as food often arise from confusion with the similarly pronounced, roots of soaptree yucca are high in saponins and are used as a shampoo in Native American rituals. Dried yucca leaves and trunk fibers have a low ignition temperature, in rural Appalachian areas, species such as Yucca filamentosa are referred to as meat hangers. The tough, fibrous leaves with their tips were used to puncture meat. Yuccas are widely grown as architectural plants providing a dramatic accent to landscape design and they tolerate a range of conditions, but are best grown in full sun in subtropical or mild temperate areas. In gardening centres and horticultural catalogues they are grouped with other architectural plants such as cordylines
4.
Purshia
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The classification of Purshia within the Rosaceae has been unclear. The genus was placed in the subfamily Rosoideae, but is now placed in subfamily Dryadoideae. They are deciduous or evergreen shrubs, typically reaching 0. 3–5 m tall, the leaves are small, 1–3 cm long, deeply three- to five-lobed, with revolute margins. The flowers are 1–2 cm diameter, with five white to yellow or pink petals. The fruit is a cluster of dry, slender, leathery achenes 2–6 cm long, the roots have root nodules that host the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Frankia. The evergreen species were treated separately in the genus Cowania in the past, idaho south to California, Arizona and New Mexico. British Columbia south to California and New Mexico, USDA Plants Profile for Purshia Jepson Flora Project, Purshia — Germplasm Resources Information Network−GRIN, Purshia
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Colorado River
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The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1, 450-mile-long Colorado River drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U. S. starting in the central Rocky Mountains in the U. S. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U. S. National Parks, the Colorados large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles of the river, beginning with small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Most native peoples that inhabit the basin today are descended from groups that settled in the region beginning about 1,000 years ago. Europeans first entered the Colorado Basin in the 16th century, when explorers from Spain began mapping and claiming the area, early contact between Europeans and Native Americans was generally limited to the fur trade in the headwaters and sporadic trade interactions along the lower river. After most of the Colorado River basin became part of the U. S. in 1846, several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century – one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. American explorers collected valuable information that would later be used to develop the river for navigation, lesser numbers settled in the upper basin, which was the scene of major gold strikes in the 1860s and 1870s. Large engineering works began around the start of the 20th century, with guidelines established in a series of international. The U. S. federal government was the driving force behind the construction of dams and aqueducts in the river system, although many state. Most of the dams in the river basin were built between 1910 and 1970, the system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, as demands for Colorado River water continue to rise, the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy. The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, after a short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle. In a few areas, such as the marshy Kawuneeche Valley near the headwaters, arcing northwest, the Colorado begins to cut across the eponymous Colorado Plateau, a vast area of high desert centered at the Four Corners of the southwestern United States. In Utah, the Colorado flows primarily through the slickrock country and this is one of the most inaccessible regions of the continental United States. Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the slope of Colorados San Juan Mountains, joins the Colorado from the east. S
