For a while now, I have been following a remarkable turn of events in the upper Columbia River region. The Columbia River Treaty (CRT) is an international agreement between the US and Canada, for flood control and enhanced hydroelectricity. The CRT was entirely designed to provide spring storage of winter snowmelt, so that summer and […]
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Mapping Revisited
A reader of The Geography of Memory recently praised the originality of the maps. I blushed, mostly because I developed them myself (with considerable help from Charles Syrett, the ace map-guy from Nelson, B.C., Canada. Check him out!) Since my earliest days as a writer, I have sketched maps, some of which have their own […]
Two Worlds, One Heart
Since my personal move to California during the pandemic, I’ve spent less time in the upper Columbia River region that formed and shaped my writing, but I have not stopped thinking and writing about it. Last year, Rocky Mountain Books released a new edition of The Geography of Memory, and next year they will provide […]
Ground breaking US government support of Salmon
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration and Dept. of the Interior announced an historic agreement to support the reintroduction of ocean salmon to the upper Columbia River, including $200 million over 20 years, and another $8 million over two. This support of the tribal people and the fish central to their cultural lives comes at a critical […]
Bears need open space (and maybe some writers do too)
Recently, walking at dusk, residents of a suburban neighborhood near the Ronald Reagan Freeway on the northern edges of the Los Angeles Basin spotted a bear. What? At the edge of highly urbanized Los Angeles county? This is what the landscape looks like on a map. Likely, the bear had been born and raised in […]
Swimming with the Salmon
I recently followed the Salmon Spirit to the upper Columbia River region, my literary homeland. The first time I felt that spirit’s power was in 2019, when I attended a tribal ceremony marking the release of several dozen ocean Chinook into Lake Roosevelt Reservoir. With the 500+ foot Grand Coulee Dam blocking their ancient pathway, […]