400k+ acres of Owyhee Canyonlands Set Aside by BLM

Great news for a beautiful and iconic landscape within the Columbia River watershed! The Bureau of Land Management has finally agreed to set aside over 400,000 acres of public lands in the Owyhee Canyonlands. This has been a multi decade long task involving so many folks.

I’m grateful to have spent quite a bit of time in this amazing place while working on my new book Big River. I thought I'd put together a post of some of the photos I took from this area some of which made it into my new book which will be released in June. Others haven't been published anywhere. I hope you enjoy.

If you want to read more about this check out an in-depth blog post by The Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Pre-sale for the Big River book is launching on April 15th.

For more content like this and to support my work become a member of my Patreon community.

For the Water,

D

Pronghorn traverse the Owyhee River watershed.

Ancient petroglyphs in the traditional territory of the Northern Pauite people.

Ryan Mackenzie and Jaylen Eldridge rope a calf on family owned Mackenzie Ranch on Succor Creek, a tributary of the Snake River.

Flowering paintbrush pokes out from a sagebrush bush in arid grassland in the Snake River watershed.

A Sage Grouse displays.

Buster Gibson - a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ Duck Valley Reservation and the director of the tribe’s Fish and Game Department.

Owyhee River just upstream from Rome, Oregon.

The Owyhee River flows out of a deep canyon near the Three Forks confluence.

Owyhee River just upstream from Rome, Oregon.

Sunset at Anderson Crossing, Little Owyhee River.

A beaver feeding on willow in the Owyhee River.

A male Northern Harrier flies through Owyhee Canyonlands.

Spring snow squall obscures the Owyhee River flowing through a deep canyon in southeastern Oregon.

A dusting of spring snow might be all the moisture this part of the Big River watershed sees all year here in northern Nevada.

Watershed of the Little Owyhee River in the upper reach of the Owyhee Canyonlands close to the Oregon Nevada border.

Wolverine Listed as Threatened

Big news! Wolverines have now been listed by the US government as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Over the past 30 years there have been a number of organizations petitioning to have Wolverines included on this list. The first petition was submitted in 1994. Wolverines are a valuable member of high mountain ecosystems, where they specialize in scavenging across rugged terrain and deep snowpack. They’re considered an indicator species, meaning that their presence on the Pacific Northwest landscape provides a measure of mountain ecosystem health, as well as connectivity to habitat beyond the Cascades.

The ESA was passed 50 years ago and has been instrumental in helping many different species recover from the brink of extinction. However, as with many issues associated with government bureaucracy, the reality of this laws implementation is quite complex. Remember how it took 30 years to get Wolverines on this list? On average it takes 12 years to protect a species through the ESA even though, by law, it should take only two years!

Following the decision to list a species, a recovery plan must be created. This can take years. Then comes the implementation (or lack there of) of the recovery plan, and the protection of critical habitat. All of this must be monitored closely by citizens and environmental organizations. Some of the regulations defined in the ESA give citizens teeth to hold agencies accountable to follow through on their obligations to protect listed species. The recent listing of wolverines is an important step towards helping this species survive in the lower 48 states but will require ongoing attention to make sure this progress continues and to determine if implemented conservation measures are working.

Our work at Cascades Wolverine Project is an important piece of monitoring Wolverine recovery in the North Cascades and engaging the human community in the importance of this species and mountain ecosystems like the North Cascades. We’re well set up to carry on the research we've been doing for the last 6 years for years to come!

You can join this project and contribute to our efforts to understand and care for wolverines in the North Cascades in a few ways. Donations to the project are vital to continuing this work. Anything helps and it's all greatly appreciated.

Learn more about wolverines and what their tracks look like, so you can contribute to our community science program and submit observations you make while recreating in the mountains.

A wolverine inspects a deer mandible at a research station in the North Cascades.

Stephanie Williams inspects fresh tracks of a wolverine during a day in the field servicing camera traps in the North Cascades.

Right hind track, likely placed directly on top of a front track of a wolverine.

Hanford Reach Tour

Samantha Redheart is the STEM coordinator for the Yakama Nation’s Environmental Restoration Waste Management Program, photographed here on the banks of the Yakama River. In a recent article published in the Columbia Riverkeeper’s newsletter Currents she wrote: “My goal is to get tribal youth interested in environmental STEM fields related to ongoing cleanup activities at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. This is based on the shortage of qualified engineers, scientists, thenologists, mangers, and analysts needed to clean up the environment damaged by nuclear and hazardous waste materials. I also provide Yakama Nation members and community with necessary skills to make informed decisions and and take responsible action. Hanford’s future will depend on the next generation’s advocacy for cleanup that is thorough and just.”

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to join Columbia Riverkeepers and the Yakama Nation for a tour of the nuclear facility along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. We were joined by Council members and students from the Yakama Nation Tribal School and Heritage College.

The nuclear reserve is where the United States built the nuclear bombs which were dropped on Japan in World War 2. The site has a variety of radioactivity pollution problems some of which threaten to contaminate the river. This stretch of the river is home to the last spawning grounds for Chinook Salmon in the entire river system, the rest of such habitat having been destroyed or cut off to fish by dams. The Yakama Nation has been working hard to have a greater say in cleanup and management activities at the location and to maintain their cultural connections to this area despite the restrictions to access created by the Department of Energy. These restrictions violate the Nations' rights to hunt, fish, and gather in their traditional territory.

Here are a few photos from the journey.

Yakama Nation Tribal Council Member Arnold Eyle speaking at a dinner gathering to discuss the Hanford Reach prior to the journey to the Reach which occurred the following day.

Trina Sherwood, Cultural Specialist for the Yakama Nation Natural Resources department, was one of the leaders who provided interpretation for students from the Tribal School on Hanford tour.

Reviewing the tour route through Hanford.

Photographing one of the mothballed reactors at Hanford.

Tribal Council Member Christopher Wallahee, Assistant Secretary of the Yakama Tribal Council, photographed at the Hanford Reach during the tour.

Yakama Nation Tribal Council Member Christopher Wallahee shaking hands with students at the end of the Hanford Journey.

Security at one of the entrances to Hanford.

Nuclear facilities close to the Columbia River. This area was chosen as a nuclear reactor site because the cold water from the river could be used to cool the reactors. Now radiation from the facilities threatens the Big River’s watershed.

Dispatch from the scaffolds: Native fishing culture on the Columbia River

Fishing in front of the Dalles dam

I met fisherman Lew George several years ago while scouting for photography opportunities near the Dalles, Oregon, for my forthcoming book on the Big River. When he told me he was a photographer, I was keen to get a chance to glimpse how he sees the river. Three years later, I’m very happy to share the multimedia presentation that B. “Toastie” Oaster and High Country News put together of the words and photos of a friend and colleague - fisherman and photographer Lew George. It offers a glimpse into the life of an Indigenous Fisherman on the Columbia River. Grateful now that his images and words are available to everyone. Honored to have been a part of bringing this to publication. I have a portrait I made of him included in it.

Over the past several years I would make occasional visits to Lew when I was in the  neighborhood. Finally, about a year ago, Lew was ready to share some of his images with me and then share them more broadly. I brought down a slide and negative scanner and we spent a day going through his images. We sorted through them and I converted them to digital files, on a table he usually used for processing salmon he caught in the river. While we went through the images he shared some of the stories behind many of the photos.

Afterwards, I went through the hundreds of images we had digitized and put together a portfolio of about 30 of them, which we shared with Bear Guerra, Photo Editor at High Country News. The publication was excited to work with Lew to publish a photo essay.  Reporter B. Toastie Oaster was brought in to help capture Lew’s stories to accompany his images.

Over my years of visiting Lew I had the chance to take a number of photos that will be included in my book - Big River - due to be published next spring. Lew himself will be one of several “River People” profiled in the book. Seeing Lew’s images and hearing his stories helped me appreciate the differences between our ways of seeing the River; how the images I take are shaped by being a member of settler-colonial society, and how settler-colonial society has literally drowned much Lew’s peoples history and culture along the river. 

For me, the experience of getting Lew’s first hand accounts and images of what this has meant for him personally, his community, and the river we both love, has been illuminating and humbling.

Here  are a few of my images of Lew and folks from his community. Please take a moment though to hear directly from Lew about his perspective on this river.

A portrait of Lew I made for my forthcoming book on the Big River which was used for the story High Country News put together of his images

Lew looking at photos he took on the tailgate of his pickup truck

Young people that help Lew fish from platforms along the Big River

Lew suggested I take this photo to show the world what it looks like to be an Indian today

Behind the scenes of the Peterson bird nest field guide

Here are some images of our adventures behind the scenes. Including some shots of digital page proofs and a couple of our writing retreats. It's been a long haul; like 5 years!! And it involved an incredible level of attention to detail. We’re stoked with the way it turned out though!

Matt checking out a beautiful Cactus Wren nest

That Cactus Wren nest again

Casey and a Coot nest

Kim with a Hermit Thrush nest and eggs

Close up shot of the Hermit Thrush nest with eggs

Casey and Matt inspecting nests at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology

The bird nest collection at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology is massive!

Writing retreat in southern California

The authors during a writing retreat in northcentral Washington State

The Wounds of Our Ancestors

The Wounds of Ancestors

Reflections on July 4th in 2020

When my great-grandfather came to this country as a teenager, 

an eastern European Jewish immigrant fleeing persecution and seeking opportunity in the early 1900’s,

he declared July 4th, of the year he arrived here, was his birthday. 

He loved this country, and his family has flourished here.

Every day I see the gifts in my life that have come from the hard work of my ancestors,

and the wealth of this continent.

I listened to the Declaration of Independence on the radio yesterday.

Did the slave owners, land speculators, and business tycoons that wrote it understand its absurdity? 

Do we understand it today?

What did that document sound like back then?

Today, in the light of two and half centuries of history

veiled beneath a veneer of egalitarianism and righteousness

it reeks of entitlement and projection,

hypocrisy, racism, greed,

Perhaps the trauma of the violence of colonialism

Dulled their senses and numbed their hearts 

to their own barbarism.

Just as it does to us today.

Along with their gifts, 

the wounds of our ancestors become ours.

OR7 Expedition Revisited

The Oregon Department of Wildlife recently announced that wolf OR7 has likely passed away over the winter. The news inspired me to go back and reflect on the expedition that I joined to retrace the steps of this animals amazing 1200 mile dispersal which took him from northeastern Oregon down into California and back into southwest Oregon.

In the spring of 2014, a team of 5 of us, supported by a dedicated logistics member, set out for over a month on foot and bicycle to retrace the route of OR7 in order to see the world that this 21st century wolf encountered. It had been nearly a century since wolves where last known to be present in most of the landscapes he traveled through and a lot has changed in 100 years.

Here are some photos from the expedition. Learn more about OR7, his journey and ours, at our expedition website: or7expedition.org where you can also stream the documentary we produced about the expedition and what we learned about human-wildlife co-existance in the modern world along the way.

Sunrise on the Zumwalt Prairie, OR7’s stomping grounds when he was born and close to the start of our expedition.

Huricanne Creek and Sacajawea Peak in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallawa Mountains, Oregon.

Jay Simpson crossing the upper Imnaha river on a log jam in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon.

Tracks of a lone wolf in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon. Found by the OR7 expedition team during our crossing of the south end of the wilderness at the start of the expedition to retrace OR7's route.

Herd of elk in the upper Imnaha river canyon, Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon.

Strawberry Mountain wilderness

Jay Simpson and Rachael Pecore bike through Ponderosa pine forest in Siskiyou County, California.

Morning light on Mount Shasta, California.

Stars and pine forest. Northeastern Oregon. Photographed from camp during the OR7 expedition.

OR7 wandered across Lassen county for months before returning to Oregon. Lassen County is one of the most sparsely human populated parts of California, (Mount Lassen in the background).

Looking down towards the Klamath River from close to the historic town of Topsy, Oregon.

Trying to escape the mosquitoes for a moment in the Cascades.

Galeo Saintz bikes towards the setting sun on a quite highway in northeastern Oregon.

Dixie, owner and proprietor of Brother's Stage Stop and Post office.

Breakfast stop at the general store in Brothers Oregon.

Interview with Rob Klavins, conservationist with Oregon Wild!

Interview with Joe Whittle, backcountry ranger, photojournalist, and resident of Wallawa County, Oregon.

"Shepard" is a life long resident of Lookout California. A talkative fellow, he was particularly interested in machinery and old time stuff. He loves history. Abe Lincoln is his favorite president but he is concerned about a "One-world government." That day he was heading to Alturus to bring his wife home from the "fancy prison" (hospital or nursing home). "Nothing sounds better than a smooth running 2-cylinder John Deere."

Lennie, Edna, and Shelley (daughter) Eades. Owner of the the Potter house in Lookout California. This family put us up for the night. Lennie shared: "We like bikers a whole lot more than wolves."

Emily Klavins, proprietor of Barking Dog farm, Bed and Breakfast, Wallawa County, Oregon.

Meeting Loch Jones, owner of Devil’s Gate ranch who hosted us during our expedition.

(Un)Clearcut

(Un)Clearcut

In British Columbia a complex forest management system leaves old growth vulnerable to logging.

My latest reporting (text and photography) from the Caribou Rainforest just published in Earth Island Journal. The piece explores how the provinces Old Growth Management Areas have failed to protect old growth across the province due in large part to loopholes in the legislation and a complete lack of government oversight of the forest industry.

Fishers return to the North Cascades

A partnership between tribes, multiple government agencies in the United States and Canada, and Conservation Northwest is bringing fishers back to the North Cascades. Fisher were extirpated from the region by fur trapping and poisoning campaigns in the 1900’s. On October 24, 2019, 8 fishers were released on the traditional territory of the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe on the west slope of the North Cascades close to the town of Darrington, Washington.

Scent marking black bears

While camera trapping this summer for wolverines I got an awesome series of photos of black bears communicating with each other through scent marking on a tree in the North Cascades of Washington (Nlaka'pamux First Nation Traditional Territory).

A black bear smells a marking tree to learn about other bears that have visited the tree.

When bears mark trees they focus on two heights on tree, about bum height (for the bears) and should height for a standing bear. Here you can see the same bear inspecting the scent left behind by a previous bear.

And here’s the bear the first one was smelling rubbing its head against the tree. This black bear has a much lighter brown coat of fur.

The same brown colored black bear rubbing its shoulders and back on the tree.