Hello Braided River Family!
In these confounding times, I'm taking strength in the power of local action.
Ubaldo Hernandez moved to the Gorge in the mid-1990s from Mexico City. As founder and director of Comunidades, an organization he created to amplify Latino voices for environmental and social justice, Ubaldo works to build diverse communities of river protectors in the basin.
“Coming from a big city where all the rivers were dead or highly contaminated and playing in those rivers—and then coming here to the Gorge where the river is so accessible for drinking water and playing—it inspires me to fight to keep this river clean." he told photographer David Moskowitz.
Ubaldo is just one of many local leaders who joined the eight-stop tour of the Columbia basin in June for the launch of Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin. Together we reached hundreds of people in person across Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia—and tens of thousands others through media, tv interviews, radio, and more.
While we did big events in the major urban areas of Portland and Seattle, we prioritized reaching into small, rural communities across the watershed that often get overlooked. We partnered with locals like Ubaldo to tell their story, alongside the photographs and storytellers representing the whole watershed.
We did that because rightnow, even as the country roils in the complexity and uncertainty of the upcoming election, BIG decisions are being made about our lands and waters in the West. And, whether someone is in a big city or a small town,it's all the same water‚ in the same watershed.And we need to be talking together to find solutions to our common problems.
River Update—The Columbia River Treaty Negotations
Just last week, the US and Canada reached atentative "agreement-in-principle" on the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty. This treaty was met with disappointment and frustration by environmental justice, faith groups, and many Northwest Tribes. Tribal sovereigns were left out at the negotiating table and the draft maintains a business-as-usual approach to river management.
“The health of the Columbia River must become an explicit purpose and priority in a new, modernized Treaty,"stated Joseph Bogaard, executive director of the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition, chair of the Columbia River Treaty NGO Caucus, and Braided River board member.
Decisions like these define our region for generations, and we all have a say in what happens next. We expect that soon there will be opportunities for the public to speak up in support of a better plan, and we will keep you up to date.
I'm inspired by Ubaldo's commitment to keep the Big River watershed clean, and to build up his community's voice for the river. We all have a shared responsibility to raise our voices for the places and waters we love.
Braided River is committed to sharing amazing stories and powerful visuals of the people and wildlife of the West—and the opportunities we see to take positive action for solutions to our climate and biodiversity crisis through democratic processes.
In community we trust—and for this world that we love,
Erika Lundahl
Deputy Director
Braided River
celebrating the Big River Kick-off tour!
Big River launched on June 1st in Nelson, British Columbia in the upper watershed. We've been delighted by its reception in large venues like the OMSI IMAX Theatre in Portland, OR, to museums like the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, in the The Dalles, Oregon.
Joel Connelly for the Northwest Progressive Institute called Big River "a photographic feast for the eyes, capsule biographies of river folk plus serious discussion of restoring natural features of the river system." And the Kirkus Review called the book “A thought-provoking and visually stunning portrait of an embattled paradise."
Here are some other highlights:
The book tour events reached hundreds of people across the eight events in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.
Copies of Big River were hand delivered to policymakers and decision-makers like Senator Maria Cantwell, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, Oregon State Governor Tina Kotek, Congressional members including Peltola, Salinas, Glusenkamp, Perez, Schrier, former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, and more!
Media reach of hundreds of thousands, with coverage in the Seattle Times, on the nationally-syndicated radio program “America Outdoors” Radio Show and more. See the many press accolades for Big River here.
Braided river award winners!
The 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year awards—which celebrates outstanding books published by independent presses—recognized not one but two Braided River titles this year!
Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado received an honorable mention in the Regional category.
And Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain: Washington's Olympic Peninsula won the Silver Award in the Ecology & Environment category!
Congratulations to all the authors and photographers who worked so hard to bring these stunning books to life!
meet eliza weyman— new braided river intern
"I am an incoming senior at the University of Washington, Seattle, double majoring in Education, Communities, and Organizations and Environmental Studies. Outside of the academic setting, I enjoy all things outdoor recreation, yoga, pottery, and growing my book collection. In March, I joined the Braided River team and was attracted to the nonprofit because of shared values regarding environmental justice and communication through the arts. So far, I have worked with Erika and Helen on marketing, such as social media content and the website, and I am eager to participate in future Braided River projects."
— Eliza Weyman
Photo Credits
Top Photo: David Moskowitz, Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin
Second photo: Big River presenters at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, OR, from left to right: Lucille Begay, Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, David Moskowitz, Ubaldo Hernandez
Third photo: Living River and Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain book covers
Fourth photo: Eliza Weyman, intern. Photograph by Mara Tarino