Woody Guthrie's Fertile Month on the Columbia River

In May 1941, folk singer Woody Guthrie spent one month working for the federal government. His job was to travel to the Pacific Northwest and write songs promoting huge hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.The government faced powerful opposition from private utilities and hoped that folk songs would prompt more public support.

Out of this month of work came some of Guthrie's best-known songs.

LINK (via: NPR Music)

Deschutes River Recordings - Laura Gibson

In the third Deschutes River Recording, Laura Gibson rises cliffside to put a spiritual spin on "Down by the Riverside." It's another river song, sung riverside, to benefit the Deschutes River Conservancy.

Victory on the Hoback!

Over the last two years, the Hoback River in western Wyoming has climbed from #7 to #5 on American River's list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®  due to the threat of industrial-scale gas drilling in its headwaters.

The Hoback has now exited the list.

At an October 5 news conference in Jackson, the Trust for Public Land announced that it has entered into an agreement with Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP) to purchase oil and gas leases on 58,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land located at the headwaters of the Hoback River. Once the transaction is completed, the leases will be retired, protecting the land from fracking and other forms of oil and gas drilling.

LINK (via: American Rivers)

The Exxon spill caused more property damage than all other accidents in Montana over the last decade combined

More than a dozen eastern Montana landowners filed a lawsuit Friday against Exxon Mobil Corp. claiming the company ignored warnings before a pipeline break that spilled an estimated 1,500 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River.

The lawsuit from property owners along the scenic waterway claims last year's spill could have been avoided if Exxon followed the lead of other companies and shut down its pipeline during severe flooding in July 2011.

LINK (via: The Missoulian)

A Drone’s Eye View of the Elwha River

Scientists have been looking at all angles of the Elwha River since deconstruction began on two dams just over a year ago. They’ve been testing turbidity, tracking river otters and conducting an ongoing salmon census.

And now they’re using remote-control planes to record high-definition video and thermal images. They’re securing a small camera to a 4-foot wide drone, which can flies as high as 500 feet over the river.

Footage provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Columbia River: Great River of the West

On a soggy May morning, Bruce Ely and Jamie Francis stuffed a Chevy Blazer and set off east. Among the cameras, tripods and camping gear was a shared dream of creating a beautiful and lasting film from the Columbia River. The result — “Columbia River: Great river of the West” — is the product of a four-month search, a quest to discover the unseen. Along the way, they learned that the Columbia unifies and divides, provides and provokes, but also sustains and defines us.

To see more videos and learn more about the project.

(via: The Flyfish Journal)