Causes

Introduction In 1988, Scottie and I watched a small herd of mustangs gallop across Coyote Lake, a playa east of the Alvord Desert, trailing a curtain of fine dust in the still air. They came from the south, rumbled past a short distance away, and were gone. We stood mesmerized the whole time. Minutes, hours,…

Introduction The Apple War (Äppelkriget), a 1971 Swedish comedy-drama about the battle between preservation and development, made a lasting impression on me. What comes back, with increasing frequency, are the pastoral settings, seen through the window of a Mercedes-Benz sedan, that change to a German version of Disney World as the window rolls down. Try…

One of my earliest childhood recollections is of standing close enough to Celilo Falls to feel the spray, watching Indian fishermen lean from their flimsy scaffolds, ropes cinched around their waists, and thrust huge dip nets on long poles into the frothing water. I was thrilled, but also a bit frightened. What if a rope…

It is March 10, 2009. I have just come from Stafford Road north of the Tualatin River bridge, above the entrance to Shadowwood and across from Mossy Brae. These names evoke images far removed from the scene that greeted me today ~ names that once, just days ago, said everything about this beautiful and historic…

[Scroll down for the story of Metro’s culpability in the looting of Native American sites on Canemah Bluff, the cutting of 200 fir trees for regional salmon restoration projects, and the destruction of Canemah Cemetery Road and the wilderness setting surrounding Canemah Pioneer Cemetery.] Essay published in Citadel of the Spirit: Oregon’s Sesquicentennial Anthology, A Merging…

Excerpt from an essay [September 9, 1994] The worst of Hanford’s waste has yet to reach the river, but like the armies of Armageddon, it’s on the march. And there’s enough of it to kill all life on the face of the Earth. The federal government’s best response has been to bury its head in…