Bobby Fossek ( @tiicham_kiluthla ) bailing out residual water in his and Bronsnan Spencer's beautiful cottonwood dugout canoe after a windy/wavy day of paddling on Naxiyam Wana (Lower Snake River below the confluence with the Clearwater River) this week for an annual gathering of Inland Northwest tribal canoe families and friends organized by the tireless Ione and Jessup Jones at Khimstonik ( @tuxumtunum ) . Bobby and Brosnan's beautiful canoe was carved over this past winter in northeast Oregon via their organization @caretakers_of_the_land , which is doing a lot of rad things in the greater Blue Mountain ecoregion. Their canoe joins many others of regional tribes that, despite an openly hostile national political climate hampering progress for unfucking the Lower Snake River, continue to show up and advocate for their treaty rights and a common sense, science-backed call for the breaching of the aging Lower 4 Snake River Dams.
That tiny white dot is a mid-size SUV on a rural highway on eastern Washington State next to some not-so-tiny ripple lines similar to what you see lapping onto river shores like in pic 2, but in a MUCH larger scale. They are the result of massive post-ice age flooding events that degloved a large swath of this part of the state as well as Idaho, Montana, and parts of Oregon. Part of an ongoing forever project.
The intrepid Will Stanhope passed away in a climbing accident a few days ago at 39. I didn't know him well. The first time we hung out about 10 years ago we hiked up to one of his projects to rig some ropes for some photos and as soon as we got to the wall he immediately whipped his dick out about 4 feet from me and started peeing. I assumed it was some sort of Canadian male-dominance ritual, which must have worked because I immediately got freaked out (not uncommon) on a tyrolean traverse a couple of pitches up on his project and told him I had to bail with my tail between my legs. We ended up shooting these images of him calmly free soloing up and down 5.11 cracks, undeterred as a freight train rumbled by just a few meters away. There are climbers and there are Climbers.
An oasis in the ice age flood-carved deserts of eastern Washington State. Spring is a stunning time at T'siyiyak's Place, a favorite seasonal camp of the great northwest patriot Kamiakin's father and Palus band. It's not hard to see why it was a cherished place by families for many generations -- the camas (pic 3) near blooming and the biscuitroot dotting the ground amongst the vibrant sage brush and varied cries of yellow-headed blackbirds, marsh wrens, tree swallows, and western meadowlarks. A visitor surprised me (pic 6) by popping up amongst the pond-lilies.
A dumbass ballroom and gaudy arch may go up in D.C. but places like this are the true American monuments worth preserving.
Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) an early blooming native forb (non-grass flower) found throughout dry areas of the West. The flower goes through quite the transformation, changing from a delicate nodding red flower (pic 2+ 3) early in the season to an upright windswept seedhead (pic 1) later in the summer. It's a great addition to home gardens.
Cool, your family has been ranching or farming or cutting down trees in the West for 100 years? Standing Red Bear, Gary Dorr, amongst the etchings of his Nimiipuu ancestors. Few folks can say they live in and continue to fight for places where their people have lived for ~8 millennia. @ndnhadji photo: 8/2021
The dearly-missed @jessroskelley who had that rare combination of ambition (exceptional alpinist) and candid humor. We did this portrait (added the floating head for this one) and no one used it because even more rare than a human with a good sense of humor is a corporation with one. Jess once radioed me from the top of a climb with serious concern in his voice asking if I could hear him and then just farted into the radio after I said yes. The second image is him climbing at one of his favorite places in central Washington later that same day after we did the portrait. 7 years gone today.
Animal fur? This is the spring coat on the leaf of Hairy Hawkweed (AKA Hound's Tongue Hawkweed, or, my favorite, Hairy Albert). Hieracium scouleri var. albertinum is a native forb (non-grass flower) that can be found east of the Cascade Mountains from southern British Columbia and Alberta south to north-eastern Oregon and east to central Idaho/western Montana.
Autumn color at orchards near Ice Harbor Dam, the first of four aging dams on the Lower Snake River that scientific consensus shows need to be breached in order to save ailing anadromous fish populations and restore tribal treaty obligations. A common concern about breaching the dams is their effect on irrigation. The reservoir behind Ice Harbor is the only of the 4 that irrigation is utilized much from, mostly for farms and orchards near the confluence with the Columbia River. Fortunately, growers would still be able to pump from a free-flowing river as well, with some slight infrastructure changes and financial support. The fish, though, can't survive too many more decades of hotter reservoirs, increased predation, and stagnant currents.
An adult Pacific lamprey in prime Idaho spawning habitat. The keystone species has declined more than 90% in the Columbia-Snake River watershed due to the construction of numerous now-aging dams.
There are a slew of reasons why these ancient, incredible fish are foundational for the health of our rivers.
They are an important first food for Northwest tribes, who have almost single-handedly been increasing the spawning success of the fish along with conservation partners via translocation, habitat restoration, and hatchery spawning.
Lamprey (one spawning female can lay hundreds of thousands of eggs) are an important food source for young anadromous fish.
Juvenile lamprey burrow into stream and river beds and act as filter feeders for years before migrating out to the Pacific Ocean.
The fish go back more than 350 million years in the fossil record and have survived numerous mass extinction events!
In this photo, you can see the circular scarring from another lamprey latching onto this fish at some point.
They are another charismatic species of the Columbia River Basin that face continued pressures from a broken hydropower industrial complex.
