Moving to a log house bordering the Columbia Slough, a couple discovers a vest-pocket Valhalla within the city, a place where nature’s rough magic captivates them. The rich floodplain that once nourished Chinookan peoples is gone, its wetlands channelized by 20th century landowners to form today’s nineteen mile slough.
As the authors walk, kayak, and bike an industrialized landscape, they celebrate a wealth of wildlife holding fast against the heavy-metal bedlam of development.
With evocative language and self-deprecating humor, Henry and Campbell tell an intensely personal story and highlight creative efforts to rewild the slough’s denaturalized habitats. Amanda Marisa Williams’ vivid pen and ink illustrations illuminate each chapter.
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CONTENTS
Prologue • Columbia River Floodplain 1
Introduction • The Adventure Begins 5
Besotted by Water (2008) 11
In Search of Hooterville 17
A Brief History of the Slough 25
Who Speaks for the Slough? 31
Settling In 39
The Sunderland-Love It or Leave It 43
Un-Nested 49
If Nutrias Ruled the World 53
House and Sky 59
Mother of Stars 65
Pulling the Plug 71
Fools on Fire 79
Neighbors 91
The Mole Chi Minh Trail 99
Stuck in the Mud 107
Citizen Crow: Up to No Good 115
Bioaccumulation Is a Bitch 121
What Gardens May Come 129
Greens to Rough 137
Standing on the Sky Bridge 147
2020-Refugia in Four Parts 155
The Territorial Imperative 169
Heavy Metal-A Slough Remediation Story 181
Rewilding 189
Acknowledgments 199
Selected References 205
About the Authors 215
Об авторе
BRUCE CAMPBELL lives in Portland, Oregon, where he gardens, hikes the wilds, and writes short stories, novels, and nonfiction. Published in The Timberline Review, Aestas 2015, and The Tishman Review, Bruce was a two-time award winner in Willamette Writers’ Kay Snow Fiction Contest, a finalist in the San Francisco Writers Conference Contest and the Tucson Festival of Books.