Conservation groups host free Earth Week gala

For nearly 30 years, Pennsylvania native Tim Palmer has blended flowing words and awe-inspiring photographs into 19 books and numerous magazine articles to help others understand the deep love and respect he has for America's rivers, especially those of the Pacific Northwest.

On Friday, April 17, during the "Under One Sky, Along One Stream" Earth Week program to be held at the LaSells Stewart Center on the Oregon State University campus, Palmer will talk about and show slides from his book "Rivers of America." He hopes the program will encourage mid-valley residents to become more committed to river protection, not just in Oregon, but nationwide.

For the last seven years, Palmer, 61, and his wife, historian and author Ann Vileisis, have lived at Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast. But for 22 years - including 11 he shared with his wife - Palmer lived out of a van, traveling wherever his work and conservation efforts took him.

"We were true nomads," Palmer said. "We traveled and wrote books about places. We stayed there, worked there and went on to the next place. It was fantastic. We were free as birds. There was always something new and interesting to see and do. It was low overhead, high mobility and always an adventure around the next corner."

Palmer, who has a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture, does not use computer enhancement to manipulate the deeply moving photographs in his books.

"I do not change the color or content of my images in any way," he notes on his Web site. "I like to show what is actually there. I don't like the idea of people looking at pretty photos with amped-up colors and then heading out into the real natural world and being disappointed by what they see."

A former land use planner, Palmer was drawn to the West in 1980, when he wrote "Stanislaw, The Struggle for a River," about the endangered Stanislaw River in California.

Some of his works cover national topics, others focus on the rugged beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Putting down roots in Oregon also can be traced to one of his books. He interviewed the former owner of his home, who insisted Palmer buy it from him.

"I had 1,000 books in storage for years," Palmer said. "It was nice to get them all out into a library. Set up e-mail and telephone service. But, my life has changed. I used to spend most of my time writing, now I support the career of writing with public speaking, photographs and little pieces of work. It's good."

Palmer said Oregon is blessed in terms of natural beauty.

"We have many fabulous rivers," Palmer said. "There are so many wonderful places deserving of protection and stewardship. It would be tough to pick a favorite. Certainly the Rogue is right up there, it's an amazing river. The Elk River, near where I live, is probably the most intact coastal river system on the Oregon Coast."

Palmer said he also enjoys the North Fork of the John Day River and called the Illinois River "a phenomenal wild river."

Palmer said tremendous progress has been made cleaning up rivers over the last 25 years.

"When I got started, it was the era of big dam construction," Palmer said. "Big dams were expected to be built all over the place. Elk Creek dam on the Rogue River was planned and about one-third of it was actually built. There was another big dam proposed for the Santiam River, as well as the Illinois River and Snake River. Dams were planned all over the place. But that era has ended. The river conservation movement brought it to a halt in the 1970s."

Although Palmer believes the worst pollution problems have subsided, pointing to the cleanup of the Willamette River, there remains an epidemic of toxic waste.

"Pollution from farmland remains the number one pollution problem nationwide," Palmer said. "Floodplain development also is a major challenge. We need to keep developments off floodplains. We haven't done a very good job of that. When you couple all of that with the population growth rate of the last 20 years, we're on a collision course with some serious problems again."

Palmer said much remains to be done in terms of river conservation.

"I'm very thankful there are programs like the one coming up in Corvallis to draw attention to our rivers and the need for better stewardship, opportunities for restoration and protection of the natural rivers that still remain," Palmer said.

For more information about Palmer's books and photographs, see www.timpalmer.org.

CHECK IT OUT

WHAT: 'Under One Sky, Along One Stream'

WHEN: 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, April 17.

WHERE: LaSells Stewart Center, Oregon State University.

COST: $5-$10 suggested donation.

WHO: Concert by Grammy Award-winning musician Star Nayea; presentation and book signing by award-winning author Tim Palmer; sneak preview of film featuring restoration work in Oregon including projects in the Long Tom and Marys River watersheds; sneak preview by Corvallis filmmaker Dave Eckert, "Forests, Farms and Football - The Journey of an Ancient Stream"; and a presentation by Peace Corps volunteers Adam Moreno and Angela Mallon, "An International Perspective on Water."

WHO: Sponsored by numerous organizations, including The Freshwater Trust and Chintimini Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

INFO: www.thefreshwater

trust.org/news-room