As we begin to look at the year ahead– we’ve checked in with many of the “braids” that underpin our Braided River world. As we plan our future work together, I return to a memory from our early days that continues to ground me. I call this the story of “The Oil Man.”
We received a call from Dan, a self-proclaimed “Arctic activist” of many years. He was buying another dozen copies of our book Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land with images by photographer Subhankar Banerjee. Dan told us this book was the best tool he had found to explain to his family and friends why he was so engaged in preserving this remarkable, wild place. “It’s so far away– and no one knows anything about it,” he said. “Without knowing, there can be no caring. The book brings this place to life.”
While ordering the books, he mentioned that one of his oldest friends runs a gas station. When Dan gave his friend the book—the friend checked out the title, peered over the rim of his glasses and said “you have got to be kidding.” Dan pleaded with him to just take a look, and the friend finally relented—“because you are my buddy, I’ll do this for you.”
Days passed. “Have you looked at the book yet?”
“No I haven’t.”
Weeks passed. “Have you had a chance. . .”
“No, not yet,” until one day the friend said: “OK, for you, I looked at your book. I know you care deeply about this. So, I looked at all the photographs, and even read some of the essays—as much as I could take of them, anyway. But you need to consider some important things about my life.
I am an oil man. I run a gas station. I feed my family on oil, and put my kids through school on oil. Oil is my life. I don’t believe the combustion engine is going away any time soon.”
He paused for a moment, and continued “But I want you to know: I do not want the oil under that land. I had no idea there was a place on this earth that was so beautiful.”
The significance of wilderness is sensed through beauty. Capture the heart, and the mind will follow.
Celebrating Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain!
Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain has been awarded the third place winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award! These annual awards honor the best environmental journalism"bringing recognition to the stories that are among the most important on the planet."
Judges described Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain as an "exquisitely produced, visually stunning account of Washington's Olympic Peninsula" that offers so much more than the average decorative coffee-table book, specifically appreciating its diversity of perspectives, which add meaningful depth, context, and a new approach for those already familiar with the Pacific Northwest.
Upcoming big river events
“The idea of a river might conjure an image of a fairly predictable linear flow of water down an existing course. A river’s watershed, however, is another thing entirely. It encompasses myriad hydrological, ecological, geological and cultural processes, activities and characters, all going about their business simultaneously in frenetic spasms of interaction” –David Moskowitz, Seattle Times excerpt
Explore the Columbia River Watershed with Big River author and photographer David Moskowitz at an upcoming multi-media event near you!
12/11 in Vancouver, WA at Heathen Brewing– 6:30PM
12/12 in Seattle, WA at The Royal Room– 7:30PM
remembering karsten heuer
Early this month, Mountaineers Books and Braided River author Karsten Heuer ended life on his own terms. His award-winning book Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with an Arctic Herd was published in 2005. Along with the companion film produced by his wife, Leanne Allison– Being Caribou became cornerstones in the collective effort to prevent drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge– the birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd. Braided River also had the honor to publish the U.S. edition in 2004 of “Walking the Big Wild: From Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bear’s Trail.”
Heuer contributed “The Wilder Side of a Wild Walk” to Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam (2005, with photographer Florian Schulz) and the epilog to Crown of the Continent: The Wildest Rockies (2014, with photographer Steven Gnam). Heuer was an accomplished scientist, chronicler, adventurer, and strong advocate to protect wild and sacred life and lands. His wisdom and humanity will be greatly missed. Read more on Heuer’s conservation work and legacy here.
Watch (and share) newly released short films from our community
All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca
All Our Relations: Tribute to the Orca delivers powerful voices of regional Indigenous leaders to highlight Indigenous communities’ ancient kinship with orcas and salmon and the importance of reciprocity in our relationship with our caretaker, Mother Nature. A special focus is on the Southern Resident orcas whose survival, like the survival of Indigenous lifeways here in the PNW, depends on scha’enexw (the Salmon People). Watch it here today!
This short film was produced by Se’Si’Le, an Indigenous-led non-profit organization based in Bellingham, in collaboration with the Salish Sea and Northern Straits Native Nations and other non-profit organizations including Save Our wild Salmon and Washington Conservation Action.
2024 Gwich’in Gathering
Every two years, the Gwich’in Nation gathers to exercise sovereignty and reaffirm their commitment to protect caribou by keeping oil development out of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Notably, this year salmon have joined their collective commitment. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial to continue the fight for environmental protections and a more sustainable future– for caribou, salmon, the Gwich’in people, and a healthy planet. Watch the Gwich’in short film here!
Parting words from a writer and activist we deeply admire:
“To hope is to give yourself to the future– and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power (Haymarket Books)
Photo Credits
Top Photo: Subhankar Banerjee
Second Photo: Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain cover by Art Wolfe