Village Books & Paper Dreams - Fairhaven
Sun: 10am-8pm
Mon-Sat: 9am-8pm
 
Village Books - Lynden
Sun-Tues: 10am-5pm
Wed-Sat: 10am-6pm

STEVEN HAWLEY, RECOVERING A LOST RIVER: REMOVING DAMS, REWILDING SALMON, REVITALIZING COMMUNITIES

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 4:00pm
Event address: 
1200 11th St
98225-7015 Bellingham
us

A powerful argument for why dam removal makes good scientific, economic, and environmental sense—and requires our urgent attention Flowing through a thousand miles of the American West, from Wyoming to Washington State, the Snake River was once one of the world’s greatest salmon rivers.  Hydroelectric dams built during the past fifty years have dropped the salmon population close to extinction.  As recovery efforts have failed, those with a stake in the river’s health— from fishermen and farmers to Native Americans and conservationists— find themselves pitted against the utilities and the federal government. The struggle raises pivotal questions: who should exercise control over natural resources, and which interests should receive highest priority?

In Recovering a Lost River, Hawley shows how river restoration, with dam removal as its centerpiece, is  not only virtuous ecological practice but also a growing social and economic enterprise, stretching from  Maine’s Kennebec to California’s Klamath, and ultimately, hopefully, to the Snake as well. 

“Very few writers have a sufficiently antic tone, an energetic enough intelligence, or a deep enough love to make enjoyable literature out of the ongoing federal crucifixion of the most important salmon river on this planet. Steven Hawley has found a perfect subject for his remarkable gifts.”
—DAVID JAMES DUNCAN, author of The River Why

Steven J. Hawley was born and raised in Oregon. He attended Southern Oregon University and the University of Montana. Steve taught English in Missoula until 2001, after which he wrote for the Missoula Independent. He is an avowed river rat who loves to float, fish, hike and ski. Recovering A Lost River is Steve’s first book. He is currently conducting a campaign to catch a winter steelhead on a fly that's any color other than purple. And for a guy who normally doesn't mind gray days, Steve admits that even he is getting sick of the rain. He lives in Hood River, OR, with his wife and two children Elliot and Annabel, ages five and three.