Another Successful Event!

3rd Annual White Salmon Riverfest

June 4th, 2008

I really don't know where to start in this blog. Everything and everyone was so incredibly amazing and played a huge role in the success of yet another White Salmon Riverfest. Alright, I have to start somewhere!

The Symposium

Location: This was our first year in the Husum Fire Station in Husum, WA. During our planning phase, we had to attend a council meeting and convince the Husum council to allow us to use this facility for our event, it was obviously passed that evening. Our symposium was held in the 'gym' area of the Husum Fire Station.

The Husum Fire Station facility and Katherine and Sara (our smiling, friendly greeters)

Our day started off with breakfast: Coffee donated by Grounds in White Salmon and bagels/cream cheese from Rosauers (freshly made that morning).

We started the morning introducing the organizers (Jaco, Hootie and myself) and immediately followed with an update on the Headwater's Insitute and how it fit into our White Salmon Riverfest (by Charles Carroll).

Todd Olson from Pacificorp talks about the Condit Dam, which is targeted to be taken out October of 2009.

Thomas O'Keefe talked to us about the Condit Dam as well as other dams in the area. Thomas represents American Whitewater and set up a boothe with information about that great organization.

Bill Sharp, representing the Yakama Nation Fisheries, talked on what fish we can expect back in the White Salmon, following the dam removal. There are even fish out there that will be able to jump up Big Brother on the Green Truss!!! Bonnie Rice, representing American Rivers, followed. She talked about the number of Wild & Scenic rivers in the area, how long the White Salmon has been Wild & Scenic and also shared in the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Act. Our last presenter before our lunch break was Teunis Wyers, a local settler in the Husum/BZ area. Teunis shared with us some interesting stories about the settlement of the area. Some interesting tidbits: Rattlesnake creek (which dumps into the White Salmon below rattlesnake rapid) used to be called 'lost stove' creek - because before the bridge was built, they had to cross this river and apparently lost quite a bit of their 'goods'.

Lunch was provided by Cork & Bottle (a catering company out of Husum/BZ). If you're looking for a quality catering company, I would recommend Cork & Bottle in a heartbeat. Lunch was simple, yet tastey and delivered in a professional manner. Thanks Dave and Tahlia!

After lunch we continued with our presentations. Charles Carroll representing the Headwater's Institute, talked about Global warming and its' effects on us. It is thought that our winters, on average, will be much milder - thus, less snow fall and more rain. This is pretty detrimental, in that our spring/summer will be much drier, due to lower snow pack. So, let's all start doing something about it!!! Research and see what YOU can do! Bengt Coffin returned this year and spoke about the Geology of the White Salmon. He spoke about how the Basalt rock that you see as you boat through the White Salmon River was formed. Pat Arnold, from Friends of the White Salmon, spoke about the possibility of rezoning throughout the White Salmon area. Marge Dryden was our final presenter and talked about Native American History. She talked about where the Native Americans would travel (around this area) during the different seasons. One thing that I've always wondering was whether or not Lewis and Clark explored the White Salmon, and she mentioned that they did not get up the White Salmon River during their exploration.

Due to an unexpected log falling into the river below rattlesnake on that particular afternoon, Sue Baker had to attend to that. We look forward to her Nature walk next year. I've had the opportunity to walk with her around BZ falls, and she is a book of knowledge - I learned a lot just walking with her for 15 minutes.

We had a ton of raffle items for the symposium attendees . . . a big thank you goes out to our sponsors who donated to this years' event. We had a total of about 50 + people at the 3rd annual White Salmon Riverfest. We even had "Amelia" - Liz's dog - take interest in our presentations.

Stay tuned for the "party" segment of the day in our next blog coming soon!

Heather Herbeck

Jaco Klinkenberg

Hootie Boucher