Chris Kassar taking the time to say a prayer at the proposed dam site of the Baker River. Patagonia, Chile. Photo: James Q Martin

by Chris Kassar via The Cleanest Line

Every time I kneel down next to a river – even if just for a moment – I swear I can hear it speak to me. I know this probably sounds crazy, but I also know I’m not the only one who hears wise murmurs rising from the ripples of wild waters. For many of us, the rhythm of a river can mesmerize our soul, capture our spirit and force us to really stop and listen.

The Baker River, nestled deep in the mountains of Chilean Patagonia, is no different. I spent weeks walking its banks, riding its waves, and crunching through the epic ice fields that feed it. I even floated over the exact spot where its journey as a river ended and it emptied into the sea – a feat in and of itself given that so many rivers, including my very own Colorado, no longer even make it all the way to the ocean. But, this trip from source to sea was much more than just a fun adventure. We – team Rios Libres – immersed ourselves in the landscape so we could arm ourselves with the knowledge needed to join the fight to protect Patagonia’s wildlands and the people who depend on them.

During our excursion, the mighty Baker spoke volumes and gave us a glimpse into what the world used to be like – full of untamed lands, untouched rivers, intact forests and people who depended on the land and each other to survive. Spending a month at the edge of the world was like traveling back in time to an age when things were simpler and nature remained largely unaltered by the trappings of man.

Unfortunately, the experience we had may not be available for future generations unless we raise our voices and speak for the river. Huge walls of concrete threaten to choke the furious turquoise flow of Chile’s most voluminous river, the Baker and its rugged sister, the Pascua. If allowed, big business will ruin pristine old-growth forests, destroy the gaucho culture and silence the beautiful sound of these waters only to replace them with the disheartening din of ‘civilization’ – bulldozers, power lines, reservoirs and dams… all to provide power for the destructive mining industry in the north.

Timmy O'Neill dropping Class V on the Baker River. Photo: James Q Martin

But this doesn’t have to happen. Perhaps, if we could just sit and listen more carefully, we might hear the river speak and fully grasp the idea that it is more important to protect the river’s power than harness it. Chile has the opportunity to learn from mistakes made in the past; they can act as a model for the rest of the world by seeking alternatives that allow them to gain energy independence while still maintaining the character of Patagonia.

We’ve written about this in the past and our team made an award-winning film called Power in the Pristine that documented our source-to-sea adventure and highlighted the various threats to the region.

So why are we writing now? We’re writing because this fight is far from over and we need your help in giving this river and its people a voice once again. A lot has happened over the past year and it seems that the wild character of the entire region – which was once endangered – is now closer to extinction than ever before. The following video will catch you up on the issue. We hope it inspires you to read on and to act. The river speaks and so can you!

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Synopsis of recent happenings: In May 2011, the government approved the dams. Tens of thousands of Chileans took to the streets in opposition and six weeks later, the Court temporarily halted all construction due to a pending appeal. This was especially significant since the Court was the only Chilean authority to challenge the project since its inception in 2008. However, in October, the Chilean appeals court ruled in favor of the dam project causing the volley to continue as opponents who want to protect this unique environment brought their challenge to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the project still requires a permit for more than 1,250 miles (2,000-km) of transmission line to carry the 2,750 megawatts generated from deep in southern Patagonia to the capital Santiago. Earlier this week (Dec. 5), HidroAysen – the company behind the dam project – released initial plans for the powerline and the environmental analysis will begin in March 2012.

Clearly, the fight to protect Chile’s pristine rivers and wildlands is not over; protests continue and polls show that over 74% of Chileans oppose the dams. This Saturday, December 10, thousands will return to the streets in Coyahique and other cities in Chile to show the government that they oppose this decision. If you cannot make the event in Chile, please show your solidarity by taking action through these groups:

1. Rios Libres: Join the ‘virtual march’ to keep Patagonia Wild!
2. NRDC: Tell Chile’s President to stop the HidroAysén project from destroying Patagonia (Learn more)
3. International Rivers: Demand Democracy for Chile – NO to HidroAysén!

The river speaks and so can you!

For more info go to: www.rioslibres.com.

• Anna Brones. You get big high fives for quite a few reasons this week, but especially for becoming my go-to music maven, especially for mashups like this, and this… and this.
• Jenny Nichols. Umm… Wild Love is hitting full steam because of you, hot stuff. So excited to be working with this incredible + creative lady.
• American Rivers. I talk about free-flowing rivers a lot. That’s because I love them, and I get to work with inspiring world changers like the folks at AR.
• Save Our Wild Salmon. Keep on fighting.
• Andy Maser. Thank you.
• ‎”How much of your own heart would you protect?” — Dr. Sylvia Earle when talking about the ocean. Keep up the fabulous work, iLCP.
• Rachel Meyer, Amber Valenti, Molly Downey + Meagan Nuchols. There are no words. You rock.
• Big ups to Gareth, Sam, Courtney, Jeff and the entire Osprey Packs family.
• Justin Clifton. 5Point is going to be amazing. And thank you for posting this video today… gives us all something to aspire to.

Happy Friday!

Just moments after the blast, and after I tackled American Rivers' Amy Souers Kober in excitement. Courtesy Klean Kanteen

There are no words to describe how freaking awesome it was to witness the White Salmon River erupt through Condit Dam on Wednesday, so just watch the video here via Andy Maser and National Geographic and CELEBRATE! Powerful, powerful stuff.

PHOTO via Klean Kanteen’s FB page. Thanks for your support!

PHOTO of Marmot Dam explosion via

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the deconstruction of the dams on the Elwha River. I now have three chunks of concrete sitting on my mantle — two from Elwha Dam and one from Marmot Dam that was destroyed a couple of years ago. You might say I’m becoming a bit obsessed with dam removal… but hey, it’s pretty damn cool to see four dams come down in my lifetime and I’m not even 30 yet.

Our rockstar friend and filmmaker Andy Maser just released his most recent teaser for American Rivers’ Year of the River series celebrating the Elwha and White Salmon river restorations.

“I was so determined that the river run free and that the fish would return. I couldn’t stop. I always believed that Condit Dam would come down someday. What I didn’t think would happen, is that it would be in my lifetime.” — Phillis Clausen, a longtime resident of the White Salmon area and one of the most kick-ass river advocates I’ve ever known.

In less than two weeks, crews will pack the dam full of dynamite and blow it up, freeing the White Salmon almost immediately. They estimate the reservoir will drain in less than 6 hours. While no one can actually be there to see the blast, Andy is setting up several cameras at the site to catch all of the action. So stay tuned… and if you want to see some photos and updates leading up to the blast, visit Andy’s White Salmon Timelapse Project site.

And last, but not least, we want to give a major shout-out to New Belgium Brewery and Klean Kanteen who are supporting this incredible. Check out this great Skinny Dip ad on the White Salmon several years ago. Pretty cool to see it come full circle.

Happy Friday!

Love from under solen

I saw a post from a friend on Facebook as the news spread of Steve Jobs’ death and all that it said was “iSad”.  This simple and clever post made me laugh while the rest of the world was/is mourning the passing of an exceptional thinker. From this laughter came deep gratitude for all of the people that are in our lives and who fill it consistently with smiles, hope and grace.

I will borrow Steve Jobs words and Rihanna’s song (to be played extremely loud — don’t be ashamed) as we raise our glasses to YOU as we venture into another beautiful weekend:

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”  — Steve Jobs

Thank you to the brands who carefully select and build products that truly stand for something and better our world in some small or large way. Cheers to the musicians and filmmakers who bare their soul each and every time a microphone or camera covers their face. Thank you to the non-profits who exist out of pure passion for something that needs to be believed in. Cheers to the silent leaders that fill our world, I trust that your voices will be heard in those times of need.

We honor and send high fives out to you ALL!  HAPPY FRIDAY and we hope that you ROCK OUT HARD THIS WEEKEND!

“This is just breathtaking for me. This is not only an historic moment, but it’s going to lead to historic moments elsewhere across the country.” —Michael Connor, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on removing two dams on the Elwha River.

I took the leap into my first nonprofit gig with a salmon group in Bellingham, Washington. After getting dirty at a few work parties, teaching kids about rivers and seeing the first first run of salmon coming home… it didn’t take long — I was hooked. With conservation it’s all about winning — because winning means we’re making this world a better place. Oftentimes, we get so caught up in the seemingly impossible state of affairs — climate change and species extinction to name a few — that we can’t even see the little and big wins happening every day.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be a part of an incredible posse of movers and shakers at the Patagonia Tools Conference for Grassroots Activists. After meeting dozens of inspiring people fighting to protect a piece of this world, it was hard not to be motivated and energized about the work we all do. We spent a lot of time talking about celebrating the little wins, especially when you have a tough road to your final big win. The conference could not have happened at a better time because that same weekend crews began work on the largest river restoration project in history — removing two dams on the Elwha River. BOOM! That is no small feat. That is a huge win.

Thanks to Amy Kober of American Rivers for dropping off two chunks of Elwha dam. I've never been so happy to hold a piece of concrete in my hand.

What we as eco warriors need to remember that every win, large or small is part of a larger movement. Whether you live in the Northwest or not, whether you have been part of this fight or not — this victory is your to celebrate. With every win, we get stronger, smarter and more energized. So, this Friday it’s time to celebrate this huge win… we’ve got more on the way.

Happy Friday!

Photo courtesy Rios Libres

Our friend Chris Kassar shot us an email this week to let us know about the newly revamped Rios Libres site — it’s looking good! — as well as the group’s new movie trailer Power in the Pristine. It’s this kind of excellent work that’s giving a dynamic voice to the conservation movement. Check it:

Power in the Pristine from Rios Libres on Vimeo.

From the film description:

Patagonia is one of the few places on the planet with untouched and undiscovered corners still remaining. Yet, at this very moment, its rivers and wildlands are under attack. Big business seeks to choke two of the region’s most pristine rivers with mega-dams and plans to decimate unique forest ecosystems to build the longest power line in the world. Follow Team Rios Libres led by professional athlete, Timmy O’Neill and luminary writer, Craig Childs as they immerse themselves into this remote region. Find out what they discover on their journey from the source of the Baker River to the sea. Filled with inspiring imagery, compelling interviews and a bit of adventure, you’ll gain an understanding of how this huge hydroelectric scheme would forever change the face and character of the area and why we must act now to Keep Patagonia Wild.

The film debuts at the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival’s Environmental Night on October 7th. Wish we were going to be there!

It’s been nearly 20 years since Patagonia teamed up with Save Our Wild Salmon to take on what seemed like the impossible: remove four dams on the Lower Snake River to clear a path for Idaho’s iconic salmon. Today, we’re closer than ever to making it all happen. And Patagonia has remained an unwavering ally.

So, why these fish? Why these dams? Snake River salmon have the most epic of all migrations — swimming further and climbing higher than any salmon on Earth. And as noted by Steven Hawley in Patagonia’s Environmental Essay — with climate change bearing down, saving these high-elevation fish is the West’s best shot at saving salmon.

From “The Idaho Tide” by Steven Hawley:

Late summer’s low flow barely bumped our kayaks down one of the main veins draining the vast wilderness of north-central Idaho, delivering us to the mouth of a place I’ll call Bigfoot Creek. The thin skin of water over rock made the prospect of a 10-mile side canyon hike sans socks seem like a better idea than sticking to some lame compulsion to make miles on the water. Besides, it would be worth the blisters if we got to see chinook salmon finning in a clear, deep pool we knew lay up there. Before we’d even tightened the straps on our sandals, we startled three napping wolves from their creekside beds along the Bigfoot. The looks on their faces gave the impression they were as surprised as we were.

Wolves are thriving in the Idaho woods for the same reason salmon should be – lots of protected, healthy habitat. But it’s the fish whose presence triggers the larger ecological ripple. Salmon tend to wander a bit farther than wolves. In 2003, an Idaho steelhead was caught in the Pacific near the Kuril Islands in northern Japan. Fattening on the bounty of the sea makes salmon the building blocks of forest ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest and until recently, the region’s rivers were the highways that delivered them to and from the trees. More than a hundred vertebrates, from the tiny Trowbridge’s shrew to wolves to the more cumbersome killer whale depend on the sustenance salmon provide. Decomposing salmon bodies provide ocean-derived nutrients for soils that nurture old-growth forests.

To honor salmon’s vital ecological contribution as well as their uncanny endurance and navigational skills, a 5,000-square-mile swath of Idaho, Oregon and Washington (reserving Hell’s Canyon, all the forks of the Salmon and the Selway Rivers) has been blessed with federal protection. Visionary Idaho senator Frank Church didn’t set aside the Idaho portion of this Connecticut-sized area just for wolves or whitewater junkies. He did it for the salmon, and made sure this rationale was included in the language of his landmark 1968 wilderness bill. It became law, and the effort eventually spawned tribute to its sponsor. The largest piece of this salmon sanctuary is now known as the Frank Church Wilderness. Alas, over the past four decades, too few salmon have made it to the Church on time.

The sin lies not in the wilderness, but in the dammed. Wild Idaho waters feed the Snake, which eventually joins the Columbia. These two rivers have been transformed into a series of eight slackwater impoundments behind as many obstructions in the long, slow ride between Lewiston, Idaho, and Portland, Oregon. For nearly two decades, a growing constituency of fishermen, farmers, business leaders, brave politicians and conservation groups like Save Our Wild Salmon have been backing a modest proposal: Take out half the dams. Just the four smaller ones on the Snake. With the grim prospect of climate change posing an added threat to the myriad Pacific ecosystems, many of which rely on salmon as a keystone species, removing the dams has become a mission that’s moved beyond regional borders.

Ken Balcomb is the director for the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. It’s a long way from here to Lewiston, but Balcomb sees the connection. He’s spent most of his time tracking the resident killer whales that cruise the sound in summer. He knows that chinook are whale food. The health of these orcas and that of the chinook population in the nearby ocean neatly track each other. Unfortunately, it’s a track leading toward extinction. Orcas joined Snake River chinook on the Endangered Species list in 2006. “There used to be this huge biomass of chinook in the ocean, produced by all the rivers of the Pacific Coast; the Columbia was the big horse of all those,” Balcomb told me. “We’re down to less than one percent of historic abundance. Climate change doesn’t look good for salmon in the Klamath or the Sacramento. But there’s a lot of intact habitat left on the Snake. It’s our best shot. I think any reasonable biologist will tell you the only way to take advantage of it is to tear out the dams.”

In the pristine water above the dams, predators abound. Back on Bigfoot Creek we watched a black bear sow and her two cubs splashing about, the mama submersing her head in the creek looking for a quick snack. Her behavior made us all the more hopeful a few chinook would be waiting up at the pool. More wild luck: guarded by weathered granite spires, a dozen big kings patrolled blue-green water so clear you could make out the spider-web pattern of cracks in specific boulders at the river bottom. Basking in the last blast of summer heat with all eyes on the water, it was easy to imagine we were 700 miles out in the tropical Pacific rather than that distance from its colder gray shores.

We slaked a considerable thirst from the cold, clean water of the creek, toasting salmon, bears, wolves and whales, then made our way back to the boats. Camped that night beneath cedars on an acre of white sand we had all to ourselves, I swilled the last of that good water, thinking again of all the lives nurtured by the Bigfoot. Racked out with one eye on the rising moon, I succumbed to the sensation I’d drifted off to sleep by the sea, rising and falling on an unleashed Idaho tide.

So who else is inspiring us to live balanced, amazing lives? Lots of people.

First off there’s Jude of Epic Wheel Works. She recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her business, and to celebrate she’s putting together an amazing bike throwdown with wheel building contests, a photo booth, limited edition t-shirts and a raffle to benefit the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s educational program, Safe Routes to School.

We can’t express how much we love bikes and support biking culture, so we’re pretty excited about this event. Just as excited as we are about this t-shirt we stumbled across on the web this week. [Props to Cyclelogical for their humor]

Speaking of inspirations, are you familiar with Elephant Journal? If not, you should be. A fantastic media platform on all things green, sustainable and hip that’s currently looking to be 100% grassroots. They’re looking for member support, and if you believe in supporting independent media then you should hop on over and consider a subscription.

As always, we’ve had the “conservation, conservation, conservation” mantra going all week. there are so many great things going on in the cause world, here are some top picks from this week:

• “What’s Your Favorite River?” Photo Contest by Save Our Wild Salmon and Mountain Khakis
• Timeline: 70 Years of Environmental Change via New York Times
• Obama Signs Great Outdoor Initiative via The Joy Trip Project (ok, so we’re a little late on this… but we were bust actually enjoying the outdoors when it happened!)

And last but not least, as you may have noticed, it was Earth Day this week… and even though we gave a healthy “Happy Day That We Should Be Reminded To Think About Earth Every Other 364 Days of the Year” shout-out on Twitter, we still really enjoyed this video. Hopefully it inspires you to get outside this weekend!