1. One definitely positive thing about staying indoors so much because of the heat and the smoky air is that I am getting a lot of reading done. Today, I finished another book, Jim Lichatowich's Salmon, People, and Place. Lichatowich's book is just the kind of book I enjoy reading. He is an advocate for ecological relationships. So were the authors of the last two books I read, Fathom and Eager. Lichatowich zeroes in how we live by stories. If the story we live by regarding salmon is fundamentally an economic one, driven by making money, we'll look at salmon populations in one way. If the story we live by is ecological, driven by understanding the web of natural connections in specific places that support salmon and encourage them to thrive, we'll look at salmon populations differently.
I don't know a lot beyond what Lichatowich wrote and what Bruce Brown wrote in Mountain in the Clouds about salmon depletion and restoration. That said, I'll just say that I enjoy reading ecological writers emboldened by idealism, who push their readers to imagine a more balanced ecological world and who advocate for ideas that might ultimately be unrealistic in a world as driven as ours is by treating the natural world as a commodity.
Back when I was just twenty years old, a course I took at Whitworth introduced me to Robert Browning's poem "Andrea del Sarto", a dramatic monologue in which Browning puts these words in the mouth of the del Sarto, an Italian painter of the High Renaissance: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp."
Jim Lichatowich's vision, the world of restored salmon habitat that he reaches for is, at this point in time, reaches beyond the grasp of current practices in the world of salmon management.
I like that Lichatowich reaches beyond current practices and that he's impatient, grouchy, idealistic, and philosophical -- and I don't know, maybe impractical -- as he argues for a vision of salmon recovery shared by other people in his field, but that goes against the grain of many contemporary practices.
2. Master angler, conservationist, and my lifelong friend, Terry Turner, knows I've been reading Lichatowich's book and he recommended I check out the website of a project he's been involved in called the Salmon Superhwy (https://bit.ly/3xLLy2F). It's an organization dedicated to restoring access to almost 180 miles of blocked habitat throughout six major salmon and steelhead rivers of Oregon's North Coast. Terry directed me to a Salmon Superhwy video. It's here. I also took some time to read up on the group's work to replace a culvert with a bridge on Clear Creek in the Nestucca River watershed. You can read up on it, too: right here.
3. Debbie and I had another session of phone gin tonight. I was happy to hear that in Valley Cottage the air is free of smoke and, at least this evening, the temperature was mild and she was enjoying being out on one of Josh and Adrienne's decks. We didn't get any closer to making a solid plan for when we'll get together again. We both have things to figure out. It's no problem. We just keep talking, dreaming, wondering. We know that one day things will fall into place.
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