Meet our Guests: Valer Clark

Valer Clark

Founder, Cueca Los Ojos

Douglas, AZ

11/8/21

    Decked out in denim and a wide-brimmed sun hat, Valer Clark fills the empty river bed of Silver Creek in a spot about 200 yards north of the U.S. – Mexico Border. “When you skip steps in between, you start to get really big problems,” she says. For Clark, this mindset has been central to her organization, Cuenca Los Ojos, in its work to restore the ecosystems of the ranches it owns along the border. By installing thousands of rock dams, or gabions, on creeks and streams, Clark has managed to slow erosion, increase vegetation, ameliorate water quality, and diminish flooding over thirty miles of border.

     Clark is a native New Yorker and “ended up West by accident” after an extended vacation turned real estate venture. It is logical to question how a city dweller would want to work on land along the border, but there is more than enough work to keep a New Yorker busy. To Clark, this work is necessary to sustain wildlife and support water storage in one of the most biodiverse areas in North America. With four bioregions, a migratory loop to the Rocky Mountains, the Chihuahuan Desert to the East and the Sonoran to the West, this land is environmentally priceless. There are many problems that arise when caring for land long-term along the border. Clark hopes that with more and more animals appearing on the land due to her intensive management practices, the value of this space will become apparent, and be more likely to receive future protection from owners to come.

By Elio Van Gorden

Meet our Guests: Kristen Kirkby

Kristen Kirkby

Fisheries Biologist, Cascade Fisheries

Twisp, WA

8/31/2021

There are nine dams on the Columbia River between the ocean and the spawning grounds for salmon and steelhead in the Methow River Basin. During migration their chances of survival exponentially decrease with each obstacle. For Kristen Kirkby, Fisheries Biologist with Cascade Fisheries and 2004 Westie, protecting this migration route is key. Spring Chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and Pacific lamprey (Kristen’s favorite water dwellers) are all listed under the Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered. The populations of these species have been plummeting over the past century due to a variety of factors Kristen says can be summarized as the four “H’s”: habitat, hatcheries, harvest, and hydroelectric dams. Overconsumption, habitat degradation, disease from hatcheries, and dams create a nearly impossible path to sea for these fish.

In an effort to ameliorate the dire situation, Kirkby utilizes mitigation funds from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the organization that manages Columbia River hydroelectricity, to restore and rehabilitate rivers and tributaries that can help safely house and transport fish on their journey through the Columbia River. These funds stem BPA, which promised to pay out $900 million from their revenue for fish habitat restoration projects over a period of ten years.

Kristen has been working on projects with Cascade Fisheries for more than a decade, one of which located at Wolf Creek in the Methow Valley. Westies were fortunate enough to suit up and snorkel with some of the many fish that inhabit and thrive within the restored riparian area. The work that Kirkby is doing is limited in its ability to drastically alter the survival chances of salmonids trapped in a dammed river system once they leave protected habitats upriver. And yet, her confidence remains reassuring despite the unpredictable flow of fish politics in the Pacific Northwest.

By Elio Van Gorden

Meet our Guests: Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly

Restoration Director, Greater Hells Canyon Council

Lostine, OR

8/22/21

The Lostine River Corridor is a place of great tension for many residents of Wallowa County. For Brian Kelly, Restoration Director for the Greater Hells Canyon Council, a regional environmental advocacy group, this is an area of devastation and disappointment. Brian is a transplant to northeastern Oregon, the native New Yorker discovered his love for the West on a hitchhiking trip straight out of high school and came back to his home state eager to return. He soon got his chance in the form of a full-time position with the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon; however, after a year with the federal agency he became disillusioned with its forestry practices.

Brian believes in a holistic and forward-thinking approach to forest management that emphasizes minimal intervention and natural aesthetics. Much of Brian’s work revolves around advocating for land managers to follow those principles, but it can be a struggle to convince them. Recently he has advocated against the Lostine Corridor Project, a tree-thinning project conducted by the Forest Service meant to reduce fire danger along a heavily-trafficked forest road. The Forest Service exempted this project from a full environmental analysis for public safety reasons, but Brian argued that it deserved a thorough assessment. Looking over stumps and debris between the remaining trees, he said “this would be a great treatment for a dry, pine forest. Unfortunately, it’s not a dry pine forest.” The transition from the thinning site to the wet undisturbed canopy further from the road provides confirms Brian’s assessment of the forest. In most of the clear-cuts that Brian has worked on, he believes it was unnecessary to clear the area in the first place. “If you’re doing that kind of forestry, let’s just say that I don’t agree with you”.

By Elio Van Gorden