Over the Klamath River Interviews

Klamath River interviews began in October 2008 and will continue winter 2010 to follow-up on the agreement to remove 4 dams owned by Pacificorp. The photos on the left were taken by David Lorenz Winston. Top: Petey Brucker points to the last of the spawning salmon at Forks of the Salmon. Merv George Jr delivers a speech in Ashland for Madrona Arts Freeing the Waters event, and Geba Greenberg speaks of her work in watershed restoration from her garden.



Interviews completed or scheduled include:

Roger Smith - US Fish Wildlife Service, Oregon, Klamath Falls
Petey Brucker - Former Klamath Riverkeeper, Salmon River Restoration Council
Geba Greenberg - Salmon River Restoration Council
Alice Kilham - Former Chair, Klamath River Compact Commission
Greg Addington - Executive Director, Klamath Water Users Association
Merv George Jr - US Forest Service Region 5, Tribal Relations
John Ward - Bear Creek Watershed Council, Prof. Emeritus Industrial Engineering Oregon Institute of Technology
Anita Ward - Friends of the Greensprings
Steve Rothert - Field Office Director, pending, American Rivers California Klamath Dam News
Steve Kandra - Merrill farmer, past president Klamath Water Users Association

Over the Rio Grande Interviews

The first round of Rio Grande interviews began in October this year. The first visit was to the headwaters near Creede, CO followed by Taos, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, El Paso, Presidio and Big Bend. Environmental Justice is especially important in the lands of the Rio Grande with its history of indigenous people, centuries of Spanish settlement, aggressive exploitation by soldiers, miners, and others who came in the 1800s and later. New alliances and collaborations between groups that were previously antagonistic now abound, growing over the past decade especially.

Interviews completed or scheduled:

Brian Shields Amigos Bravos

Sawni Morris - Amigos Bravos
Mariana Chew - Sierra Club EJ Programs Texas
Bill Guerra Addington - Sierra Blanca Legal Defense
Steve Harris - Rio Grande Restoration and Headwaters Institute
Esther Garcia - Chair of San Antonio del Rio Colorado Land Grant
Kevin Bixby Southwest Environmental Center
David Groenfeldt - Water and Culture Institute and the Santa Fe Watershed Association
Basia Irland - Basia Irland Water Artist
Lucy Moore - Mediator, Facilitator, Author Lucy Moore Associates
Marcos Paredes - Chief River Ranger Big Bend National Park
Ernie Atencio - Executive Director Taos Land Trust, Board of Quivira Coalition (pending)

contact: dhovertheriver598 {at} gmail.com

Over the NYC Watershed to Bronx River Interviews

Interviews on the NYC watershed and the natural rivers of NYC with emphasis on the Bronx River, the only freshwater river within the city, will resume November of this year.

Interviews include:
Ruth Anderberg - Bronx River starting in the 1970s
Nancy Wallace - Bronx River starting in the 1980s
Alexie Torres-Fleming - Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (interview pending)
Majora Carter - founder Sustainable South Bronx Majora Carter TED Talk -interview pending
Jenny Hoffner - American Rivers
Dart Westphal - Mosholu Preservation Corporation
Linda Cox - Bronx River Alliance
Dan Davis - NYDEP Catskills
Jack Isaac - NYDEC Catskills
Harry Jameson III - Town Tinker Tube, Esopus
Chester Karwatowski - Trout Unlimited, Ashokan-Pepacton
Michelle Spark - Catskills landowner - interview pending
Marilyn Gelber - Former Commissioner NYCDEP, current Brooklyn Community Foundation
Diane Galusha - Author Liquid Assets, Director Education Catskill Watershed Corporation


If you know someone we should interview, please contact us through this blog or through local contacts:
Bronx River Alliance, Anne-Marie or Damian
Michelle Spark of the Esopus Creek Planning Council: spark.michelle {at} gmail.com

Over the River Interview Questions

Interviews use a single set of questions:

1. What in your background brought you into this work with rivers?
2. What are the most important successes you have been involved in?
3. What are the greatest changes you have seen in the conservation and/or environmental movement and where is it going?
4. Who and what are your greatest sources of inspiration - people, mentors, books, art, spiritual, religion etc.
5. If you had just a short time to give a lasting message to young people you may never see again, what would you tell them?

And you can add anything you like to this.

Secondary interviews involve a brief survey and/or telephone interview.

Over the Upper Mississippi River Interviews

Photo: Mark Van Patten of Missouri Stream Team

Interviews for the Mid to Upper Mississippi are on-going. Due to schedule delays in other parts of the country, time in the St. Louis area was cut short. Interviews will continue late spring and early summer 2010. Environmental Justice advocates for East St. Louis are especially needed at this point. Another area of interest is the long-term history of the Corps of Engineers on the Upper Mississippi.

Interviews to date include:

Calvin Fremling - author Immortal River
Rip Sparks - National Great Rivers Research and Education Center
David Conrad - National Wildlife Federation
Bruce Hannon - Prof. Emeritus of Southern Illinois University
Ken Lubinski - USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Mark Van Patten - Missouri Stream Team
David Wilson - East West Gateway Council of Governments
Ron Colemen - Open Space Council St. Louis
Bob Williams - SIUE retired Rivers Project & Clean Water Celebration
Ron Yarbrough - formerly St.Louis District USACE contractor
Harry Hendrickson - retired IL Science Teachers Association
Claire Schosser - River Des Peres Watershed Coalition
Danelle Haake - River Des Peres Watershed Coalition
Chad Pregracke - founder Living Lands and Waters
Jeff Barrow - Missouri River Relief
Vicki Richmond - Missouri River Relief
Kristian Gustavson - Below the Surface
Annie Hoagland - survey, Great Rivers Land Trust
Ben Griffiths - survey, New City Kids
Kathy Andria - interview pending

There are other interviews, partial or as background surveys and literature. All are greatly appreciated.

If you know or have heard of someone whose work made an important contribution to the Upper Mississippi, please contact:
Diana Hartel diana.hartel {at} gmail.com
Doug Meyer at SIUE domeyer {at} siue.edu

Over the Chattahoochee River Interviews

Longleaf Pine Forest - Photo Margery Bouris

Interviews for the Chattahoochee River underwent a second round ending April 28, 2009. To date they include:
Sally Bethea - Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper
Bill Eisenhauer - community activist Atlanta
Jerry Stober - formerly of the EPA Region 4
James Hathorn - US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile
Bruce Morton - West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Na'Taki Osborne - West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and NWF
Sherril Marcus - civil rights and environmental justice advocate
Jim Kulstad - Common Cause Georgia
Jenny Hoffner - American Rivers
Howard Marshall - formerly of the EPA Region 4
Jacqueline Echols - EJ advocate
Ron Warnken - National Wildlife Federation
Mark Williams - US ACE Lake Lanier
Melissa Samet - American Rivers
Aris Georgakakos - Georgia Water Resources (pending)

Return to Georgia is planned for spring, 2010. Meanwhile, interviews may be carried out by telephone. Please email Diana Hartel diana.hartel {at} gmail.com for further information.