Gail Snyder

This event took place May 13, 2021.  Find the event recording below. Collaborating to a Plan The Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) has been a 12-year collaboration among a large group of Deschutes River Basin stakeholders – irrigators, municipalities, recreationists, federal and state agencies, and Tribes. The HCP will protect and restore habitat in 340 miles of rivers and streams. The area covered by the HCP is massive, encompassing around 10,700 square miles of watershed in Central Oregon. Boundaries are the north to the Columbia River, west to the Cascade Mountains, and east to the Ochoco Mountains. The Deschutes River basin includes six major tributaries upstream of Lake Billy Chinook in Jefferson County. Bridget Moran is the Field Supervisor for the Bend Field office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Bridget manages a team of biologists working on a variety of conservation efforts in Central Oregon, including implementating the HCP … Read more

This event took place Thursday, April 1st 2021.  Find the event recording below. From fish to farms, from flora to fire hazard, glaciers are crucial to our well-being. And yet… Oregon’s glaciers are the natural water reservoirs of the high Cascade water towers. Glacier meltwater sustains rivers during the late summer and fall for flora, fauna and irrigation. The glacier melt chills streams for salmon and trout, with the attendant effect of cooling surrounding forests that reduces fire risk and intensity. In short, glaciers are an integral part of Central Oregon ecosystems and economies. And yet, we do not know how many glaciers remain today in the basin, let alone how many existed a century ago. In this talk, Dr. Anders Carlson will present on the Oregon Glacier Institute’s findings from the first census of glaciers in Oregon since the 1950s. We will examine how these glacier changes are related … Read more

Chuush iwa waq’ishwit. Water is life. Our rivers function not only hydrologically but also in a cultural context. They have been dramatically altered since the first white people ventured here. With their arrival, forests were logged. Early newcomers tried to eradicate beavers. They introduced nonnative fish and other species. Rivers were dammed and water diverted. The people who already called this place home were displaced, often brutally. The colonization of people, and the monetization of land and water, go hand in hand. We must dismantle both if future generations are to inherit a just society and livable planet. I am Carina. I belong to this land and its rivers. My ancestors lived along the Columbia River and its tributaries, practicing subsistence fishing and hunting. My grandparents ranched on today’s Warm Springs Reservation. My family instilled in me the importance of using traditional knowledge to benefit all, and to think of … Read more

Just over four years ago, we created the Coalition for the Deschutes so the river would have a voice, so that it would be seen as more than an extension of urban and agricultural infrastructure, a utility to be tapped. We can’t talk about restoring rivers without talking about how we all use them, from farming to recreation to household use. And so, I was drawn into Central Oregon “Water World.” Discussions revolve around projects, policies, politics, often with conflicting narratives in a milieu of misinformation and mistrust. To enter into Water World is to be drawn away from the river, diverted just as the river is diverted. For me, it has meant willingly entering into a place of personal sorrow. But with that has come conversations and with conversations has come hope. Hope that we will get to know our neighbors and hear each others’ stories. Hope that we … Read more

Missed George’s talk? You can watch it here. In the midst of the huge drag that is Covid-19, join Coalition for the Deschutes and the Juniper Group of Sierra Club and escape for a while with explorer George Kourounis. What: Hold on tight as explorer George Kourounis shares his 20+ years of tracking down and documenting the most fearsome natural forces on planet Earth. Chasing tornadoes in Oklahoma, hunkering down in the eyes of hurricanes like Katrina & Sandy, descending deep into menacingly active volcanoes…George is the guy who runs into places that most sane people run away from, all to showcase the beauty and power of Mother Nature. George will be sharing stories, images, and videos from his most extreme expeditions in more than 75 countries spanning all seven continents. Curious about George Kourounis George Kourounis is Explorer In Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and has hosted 50 episodes of the globally-broadcast TV series “Angry … Read more

“Who hears the fishes when they cry?” Those haunting words were penned by Henry David Thoreau almost 200 years ago, a reaction to the declining salmon runs he witnessed on the East Coast. Today those fish, now long lost, have been referred to as “ghost fish.” We do not intuitively know what used to be. We suffer from ecological amnesia, accepting what we see today as normal. A hundred years after the Deschutes River was dammed and diverted in order to irrigate arid lands, how do we know what we’ve lost? Thoreau’s piercing question echoes through time. Seven years ago, the reality of my own front-yard river hit home for me. The Deschutes, our beautiful river, once teemed with fish and other wildlife. In short order last century, it was transformed from a free-flowing river to a highly managed system. Add to that mix the impact of logging, farming, housing … Read more