Big River
Resilience & renewal in the Columbia Basin
Coming June 1, 2024!
Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin is a stunning new book and visual storytelling campaign exploring the beautiful and complicated Columbia River system and its expansive watershed, from sea to source.
The project will illuminate the beauty of this river geologically, ecologically, and culturally—as well as the current challenges and the people and communities working on sustainable solutions. The future of this river is uncertain, with powerful and complex environmental and cultural forces in play. As such, Indigenous Tribes across the watershed have called for new management strategies, including the removal of key dams that have decimated the salmon runs their cultures are built around.
Photography by award-winning photographer David Moskowitz, supported by narrative essays by author Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, a poem by Claudia Castro Luna, and contributions from members of the various communities and cultures whose lives are touched by this river, will create a powerful inspirational and educational resource to support the ongoing efforts of conservation organizations to push for sound management of the river moving forward.
Braided River is grateful for the tribes, foundations and individuals who made gifts to fund the publication of the book.
Sincere gratitude to:
The Squaxin Island Tribe, Muckleshoot Indian Charitable Giving Foundation, Port Gamble Sklallam Tribe, Tulalip Cares, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Wildsight, Save Our wild Salmon, The Elisabeth and Carey Miller Charitable Foundation, ArtsFund and the Ferguson Foundation.
Make a gift in support of this book and campaign via the above giving portal, by check or through a donor advised fund by using our EIN: 74-3237319. Email Erika Lundahl at elundahl@braidedriver.org for more information.
Fidelity Charitable | Schwab Charitable | Seattle Foundation
KEY IMPACT OPPORTUNITies
The Columbia River is vast and varied, flowing 1200 miles across seven U.S. states, one Canadian province, and the traditional territories of dozens of First Nations and Tribes. One of the most celebrated salmon rivers in the world, the Columbia is also a “working river,” providing a massive amount of hydro-electric power and irrigation water. Its geological history is deep and complex, and it has been of cultural importance to every human society within the watershed throughout time.
Community conversations around the 2024 Columbia River treaty negotiation, Tribal sovereignty, efforts to restore fish passage throughout the watershed, the development of new sustainable energy projects and community development, climate change, agricultural sustainability and irrigation are dynamic and ongoing. We hope that Big River’s stunning imagery and diverse perspectives can be utilized by local community groups to galvanize these important conversations, and work towards just, collaborative solutions for all.
About the Photographer
David Moskowitz
David Moskowitz works in the fields of photography, wildlife biology and education. He is the photographer and author of three books: Caribou Rainforest, Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest and Wolves in the Land of Salmon and co-author and photographer of Peterson’s Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. He has contributed his technical expertise to a wide variety of wildlife studies regionally and in the Canadian and U.S. Rocky mountains, focusing on using tracking and other non-invasive methods to study wildlife ecology and promote conservation. He helped establish the Cascade Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, a citizen science effort to search for and monitor rare and sensitive wildlife in the Cascades and other Northwest wildlands.