We just finished another amazing Wild Rivers Night at the KEEN Garage in Portland. This year we had over 200 people join us from as far away as Los Angeles, Berkeley, Reno, and Seattle. We celebrated wild rivers with presentations on river conservation, a silent auction of gorgeous river photography, and enjoyed beverages donated by Sierra Nevada, Nectar Creek Honeywine, and Springhouse Cellars.
Wild Rivers Night at KEEN’s Garage in Portland
Our emcee Tim Palmer started the evening with a comprehensive list of Oregon rivers and then introduced the different presentations about wild rivers and river conservation. The first speaker was Jim Cox from Western Rivers Conservancy who spoke about their efforts to buy and protect the areas around the Hood River Confluence and on the Yampa River.
Jim Cox from Western Rivers Conservancy
Next up was Tom O’Keefe from American Whitewater who showed two great films by Andy Maser and Nate Herbeck about the removal of the Condit Dam and the restoration of the White Salmon River.
Those were followed by the premiere of a new Rogue River film by Nate Herbeck of Sheer Madness Productions.
Tim then introduced Bill Bradbury, Oregon’s former Secretary of State who talked about his passion for rivers. He told a wonderful story about his first time down Blossom Bar Rapid on the Rogue River.
Tim Palmer introducing Bill Bradbury
Bill Bradbury was followed by David Moryc from American Rivers who talked about the area surrounding the Rogue River and the need for an expanded Wild Rogue Wilderness to further protect it.
David Moryc speaking at Wild Rivers Night
Greg Haller, Conservation Director from Pacific Rivers Council spoke briefly about PRC’s mission. Greg talked about how PRC protected over 40 rivers in Oregon, totaling 1500 miles, as a direct result of legislation that PRC crafted in 1988. PRC is currently working to protect rivers in Western Oregon from pressure to increase logging of BLM lands, along with projects in California and Montana.
Next was a wonderful film about Lamprey by Jeremy Monroe of Freshwater Illustrated.
Then Ann Vileisis from Kalmiopsis Audubon gave a follow up to last year’s presentation on the Chetco River.
Slide from Ann’s presentation about the Chetco River
That was followed by my presentation of our trip to Rough and Ready Creek and a quick introduction to some of mining threats.
Wild Rivers Night presentation about Rough and Ready Creek
We finished off with the world premier of Nate Herbeck’s film from our trip to Bhutan in November. It was beautifully done and a great way to end the night.
We owe a huge thank you to KEEN for donating their awesome space to us for the evening. I’d also like to thank Sierra Nevada, Nectar Creek Honeywine, and Springhouse Cellars for providing drinks for the event. I’d also like to thank New Seasons Market and Whole Foods for providing food for the event. Earth-Centric provided wonderful compostable plates and napkins. River photographs for the silent auction were donated by Tim Palmer, Keel Brightman, Charlie Munsey, Will Volpert, and David Jensen.
