Big River—Portland Launch Event
at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
On June 18 at OMSI in Portland, OR, experience a multimedia journey along the Columbia River from source to sea with:
David Moskowitz,
photographer
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, author
Lucille Begay, Yakama Tribal member
Ubaldo Hernández, Comunidades executive director
Brenna Bell, community organizer
In Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin, (new June 2024 from Braided River) award-winning photographer David Moskowitz and writer Eileen Delehanty Pearkes illuminate the natural history, hydrogeology, beauty, and human activity on the Columbia River, while also highlighting the challenges facing the region and the people working on sustainable solutions.
This event is part of a series of international book events celebrating the book launch of Big River throughout the Pacific Northwest. Big River explores the Columbia River watershed as one living, interdependent entity that embraces a broad cultural and ecological perspective.
Through rich and comprehensive images of the land, river, and people and micro-interviews from diverse voices across the region, Big River explores the Columbia River Basin as a single living, interdependent entity.
The culmination of Moskowitz’s many years of photographing the river and exploring its watershed and Eileen’s decades of research, Big River seeks a path forward for the Columbia River watershed, balancing the demands around water, salmon, agriculture, energy, and climate with the fundamental need for a sustainable living river.
About the Authors and Speakers
LUCILLE BEGAY
Yakama Tribal member | Celilo Village, Oregon
Lucille Begay is a lifelong resident of Celilo Village, Oregon and is an enrolled Yakama Tribal member. She is a Community Native American Liaison for Columbia River area. Begay also serves on the board of the Oregon Indian Education Association and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum.
BRENNA BELL
Big River Contributor | Speaker| Environmental Advocate, Portland, OR
Brenna Bell has worked as an outdoor camp counselor, waitress, environmental attorney, and community organizer, and is raising her family on a small community farm in the hills of southwestern Portland near a lush creek that eventually flows into the Columbia.
Learn more about her work at forestclimatealliance.org, tryonfarm.org, and 350PDX.org.
UBALDO HERNÁNDEZ
Big River Contributor | Speaker | Community Organizer for Columbia Riverkeeper and Director of Comunidades, The Columbia River Gorge, OR
Ubaldo works as an Executive Director, conducting community outreach on clean water while promoting equity, inclusion, and diversity. Ubaldo has been an active member in the Latino community in the Columbia Gorge, participating in projects that promote awareness on issues that are relevant to Latinos in Oregon and Washington. In the last fifteen years, he has dedicated his free time to launch and participate in multiple projects benefiting the Latino community, including the local community radio station Radio Tierra. In his free time, he enjoys mountain biking, fishing, and hiking in the Columbia Gorge. columbiariverkeeper.org/ubaldo-hernandez-senior-organizer
DAVID MOSKOWITZ
Big River photographer and author | speaker
Photographer, author, wildlife biologist, and tracker David Moskowitz is the author of Caribou Rainforest, Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, and Wolves in the Land of Salmon, and coauthor of Peterson’s Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Sierra, High Country News, and Audubon Magazine, as well as by organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Endangered Species Coalition, and Nature Conservancy of Canada.
EILEEN DELEHANTY PEARKES
Big River author | speaker
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes explores landscape, history, and the human imagination through writing, maps, and visual notebooks, focusing on Indigenous culture and the power of water. She has researched the international Columbia River basin for more than two decades. Pearkes is the author of The Geography of Memory, A River Captured: The Columbia River and Catastrophic Change, and The Heart of a River.
This event is part of a series of international book events celebrating the book launch of Big River, and is cohosted by:
Save our wild salmon
Save Our wild Salmon is a diverse, nationwide coalition working together to restore wild salmon and steelhead to the rivers, streams and marine waters of the Pacific Northwest. Big River explores the Columbia River watershed as one living, interdependent entity that embraces a broad cultural and ecological perspective. More at wildsalmon.org.
Columbia riverkeeper
Columbia Riverkeeper is a partner for this Big River event. Columbia Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect and restore the water quality of the Columbia River and all life connected to it, from the headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. Columbia Riverkeeper will be tabling for this event. More at columbiariverkeeper.org.
350PDX