In this beautiful high resolution watershed map of the United States, including the lower portion of the Cascadia Bioregion, all the permanent and temporary streams and rivers of the contiguous 48 states are shown in beautiful rainbow colours, divided into catchment areas. The map, by geographer by geographer Szűcs Róbert, shows the waterways using the Strahler Stream Order Classification which means the larger the body of water, the thicker the line, and help show the impact of watersheds on colonial development in the United States – as well as on pre-existing and existing cultural and environmental systems.

Below is also a nice example of how the map might look with state borders overlaid, so you can help visualize these watersheds with even more clarity. Thanks to OneWeirdTrick for the map edit.

The maps were made mostly with the open-source QGIS software, GIMP and open GIS data. Szűcs Róbert is a geographer and GIS analyst who combines his work with a lifelong passion for beautiful maps, making most of them in his off time between jobs and travelling. As part of these maps, he has also developed beautiful maps of Africa, South America and Europe by their watersheds, as well by forest density.

These watershed maps are available at his Etsy Store at: https://www.etsy.com/people/GrasshopperGeography

You can find other Cascadia related resources and maps in our Cascadia section here.

You can see some of his other great maps below: