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 […]
Maps
For the indigenous people of North America, maps have always been carried in the heart and mind. In the era of colonial exploration, the first maps unlocked the landscape for others who followed, guiding us where to go, and pinpointing where the rich resources for extraction would be.
In this era of google maps and GIS tracking, hand-made, hand-drawn maps remind me that landscape is still a place for the soul to roam.
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 […]
The Submerged Canoe
The Sinixt, or Arrow Lakes Tribe, have been in the news lately. After a decade of legal battles over the right to hunt in the Canadian portion of their territory, their case will be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. It’s hard to imagine why, in an era of cultural reconciliation for Indigenous people, […]
Nothing that is big or grand starts out that way
In the past month, I have twice threaded my way east through the Selkirk and Purcell mountains to travel across the mysterious landscape of river-beginnings. In the Rocky Mountain Trench, the Kootenay River starts on the West Slope of the Rockies, tumbling down to wind along the broad valley. Here, too, begins the great Columbia […]
River Love, Part 2
My map of the Incomappleux basin here, with help from my imagination. What this map cannot record is the quantity and persistence of the rain that fell during my trip into the heart of the valley to see the old trees. What the map does record is the relative amount of remaining, untouched […]
Sophie Morigeau’s Landscape
Sophie Morigeau was the daughter of a French-Canadian free-fur trader and a Cree-mixed blood mother, born in the beautiful valley of the Columbia River headwaters in 1836. While many attempts were made to “civilize” her through Catholic Mission schooling, marriage and other conventions, Sophie couldn’t fit the mold and became a rare free-trader like […]