April 09, 2022 through May 11, 2022
Pat Welle • There and Back Again
There and Back Again
Salmon Through the Columbia River Estuary
The Columbia River Estuary runs 146 miles from Bonneville Dam east of Portland, to the Pacific Ocean. It is a critical, final reach for migrating Pacific Salmon – and undammed and tidally-influenced stretch where salmon feed, grow, and adapt to a salt-water environment. There is a rich history here and human influences have significantly reduced salmon habitats. This image collection explores these complex estuary habitats, and the people and projects working to restore them. It is a positive portrait of a decades-long effort to reconnect the habitats, salmon, and the people of this beautiful but fractured place.
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Pat Welle is a photographer and retired watershed restoration scientist exploring native habitats and waterways around the Pacific Northwest. She worked for over twenty years in conservation along the Columbia River, and has traveled extensively through the estuary in the past 15 years as a scientist, photographer and kayak guide. Her work in the Columbia River estuary is presented in two books: There and Back Again, A Portrait of Salmon Restoration in the Columbia River Estuary, and A Photographic Journey through the Columbia River Estuary.
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