Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60Introduction 1 Introduction Geography is about the study of place, asking the question “What’s where, and why?” The Wyoming Student Atlas is one way of studying the place we call Wyoming, providing an opportunity to learn about its people and landscapes and how they interact. An atlas means maps, and this book has a lot of them, as well as some text and photographs. The maps in the Wyoming Student Atlas are designed to introduce you to the spatial patterns of a wide variety of physical and human phenomena and events in the state to help you understand how they relate to one another. To help get started in working with maps and geographic information, the Atlas first describes different types of maps and their components, and two important mapping concepts: map projections and map scale. The maps that follow are organized around major physical and human geography themes, ranging from geology, climate, and wildlife to human settlement, economic resources, and culture. Additional population data and a glossary of geographic terms are included at the back of the book, along with information on data and image sources, books, and other references used in creating the maps and text. One way to begin exploring the Atlas is to think about the types of questions that its maps might help answer. For example: • Page 13: to which ocean does water flow, if it falls in the Great Divide Basin? • Page 15: what might cause average July temperatures to be highest in the northeastern part of the state? • Page 18: in which Wyoming county would you be least likely to experience a tornado? • Page 20: which is the most common type of vegetation found in Wyoming? • Page 29: which counties experienced the greatest population increase between 2000 and 2010? What may have caused this change? • Page 33: why does Albany County have such a high percentage of people aged 20 to 29 years? • Page 34: how would you describe the spatial pattern of private land across the state? • Page 37: in which two counties do sheep outnumber cattle? • Page 40: Why are so many coal mines located in Campbell County? • Page 42: based on this map, where would you find the highest winds in Wyoming? • Page 46: what does the series of voting maps tell you about Wyoming voting preferences? These are just a few of the questions you can find the answers to in the Atlas.