Singing Grass, Burning Sage is a celebration in photos and text of eastern Washington's arid lands--a region that encompasses the heart of the Columbia River Basin, and supports a shrub-steppe environment dominated by sagebrush and bunchgrass. Formed by massive basalt flows that pulsed across the Basin, sculpted by ceaseless winds, and scoured by the cataclysmic Lake Missoula floods at the climax of our most recent Ice Age, this landscape offers some of the most spectacular geologic vistas in the world. The vast spaces of this wide domain are full of wonder and surprise, as that raw rock provides the setting for a dramatic interplay of human and natural history.

In Reimagine, Richard Lee Harris's first collection of poetry, he leads others on a personal journey from Alaska to the cafes of Seville while recreating the richness of the world around him. With the hope that others will experience life's most memorable moments through his eyes first and then their own, Harris shares his reflections on the uniqueness of ordinary experiences, the relationship of those moments to his natural world, and the impression these memories left with him. From "Arctic White" where "Tundra falls into Beaufort Sea, snow dissolves, translucent in ascendant sun," to "Child of the Desert" where "Specks of shade in a solar sea cast their patterned light over an infant sleeping in a hammock gently rocked by grandmother sitting docile in her cobbled chair," Harris couples beautiful imagery with lyrical verse to tell a relatable and emotional story. ..". Richard Lee Harris invites us to reimagine events that are part of a rich life and introduces us to environments where we can wander, appreciating the elegance of nature along with the clash of cultures ..." -Jim Milstead, PhD (ret.), Poet and Memoirist, University of California-Berkeley"

Exceptional writers such as Barbara Kingsolver, Barry Lopez, Rosemary Bray McNatt and Scott Russell Sanders reflect on how children have transformed their spiritual lives. Contributors explore those times when children helped them appreciate the mystery and beauty of life, how children threw them into battles with their souls, and how children helped them say "yes" to living. The writers are from diverse spiritual traditions.

“Offers the reader a constellation of healing stories . . . Powerful articulations of the human heart . . . Overlaid with the stories of the natural world” (Denise Chávez, author of A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food, and Culture). Without a map, navigate by the stars. Susan Tweit began learning this lesson as a young woman diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that was predicted to take her life in two to five years. Offered no clear direction for getting well through conventional medicine, Tweit turned to the natural world that was both her solace and her field of study as a plant ecologist. Drawing intuitive connections between the natural processes and cycles she observed and the functions of her body, Tweit not only learned healthier ways of living but also discovered a great truth—love can heal. In this beautifully written, moving memoir, she describes how love of the natural world, of her husband and family, and of life itself literally transformed and saved her own life. In tracing the arc of her life from young womanhood to middle age, Tweit tells stories about what silence and sagebrush, bird bones and sheep dogs, comets, death, and one crazy Englishman have to teach us about living. She celebrates making healthy choices, the inner voices she learned to hear on days alone in the wilderness, the joys of growing and eating an organic kitchen garden, and the surprising redemption in restoring a once-blighted neighborhood creek. Linking her life lessons to the stories she learned in childhood about the constellations, Tweit shows how qualities such as courage, compassion, and inspiration draw us together and bind us into the community of the land and of all living things.

CLICK HERE to download the intro and section on exploring "Lower Crab Creek" from Washington Channeled Scablands Explore Washington's canyons of Ice Age wonders -- great trails, stunning scenery, and amazing history * Comprehensive guide to a fascinating region rich with history and recreational access to camping, hiking, fishing, and more * The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail was designated by the National Park Service in 2009. Once completed, the Trail will connect interpretive facilities, signage, and other tourism activities * Features regional maps and photos Often overlooked by those cruising on the highway to Spokane or the Tri-Cities area, more than 2,000 square miles of terrain in eastern Washington are home to a striking collection of sharp-edged coulees slicing through a crust of basalt. In this stunning landscape, deep lakes fill the depths of dramatic gorges flanked by steep walls of towering rock columns, labyrinthine channels, and wide tracts of scabby rock that give the region its name -- geologically, no other region in the world contains features like those found in the Channeled Scablands. Where-to guidebook and travel narrative come together in the Washington's Channeled Scablands Guide to offer a comprehensive and intimately knowledgeable tour of this one-of-a-kind region. Local writer and historian John Soennichsen is your guide to fascinating lore; snapshots of the unique towns connected by this singular landscape; descriptions of the unique geology; advice on how to explore whether by auto, horseback, canoe, bike, or on foot; and essential info like where to fuel up and stop for dinner. Take the family to scenic camping and fishing in Coffeepot Lake, and read out loud the legend of Old West outlaw Harry Tracey as you cruise along on a "Back Roads Auto Tour." Lace up your boots for a cross-country hike in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area or up Badger Mountain Trail. Explore the unearthly crater-like formations in the Telford-Crab Creek Tract, or set up with your camera for a stunning sunrise over Palouse Falls. Whether you're a boater looking for new waterways to explore, a naturalist interested in unique ecosystems, or just a curious traveler -- if you're seeking adventure and intrigue just a little off the beaten path, you'll find the keys to a whole new world of exploration with Washington's Channeled Scablands Guide.

During a meteoric career that spanned from 1825 to 1834, David Douglas made the first systematic collections of flora and fauna over many parts of the greater Pacific Northwest. Despite his early death, colleagues in Great Britain attached the Douglas name to more than 80 different species, including the iconic timber tree of the region. David Douglas, a Naturalist at Work is a colorfully illustrated collection of essays that examines various aspects of Douglas's career, demonstrating the connections between his work in the Pacific Northwest of the 19th century and the place we know today. From the Columbia River's perilous bar to luminous blooms of mountain wildflowers; from ever-changing frontiers of technology to the quiet seasonal rhythms of tribal families gathering roots, these essays collapse time to shed light on people and landscapes. This volume is the companion book to a major museum exhibit about Douglas's Pacific Northwest travels that will open at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane in September 2012.

The desert country along the Columbia River is one of the WestÕs least-known desert placesÑone that most people donÕt even drive through unless they are unusually curious travelers. The Hanford Reach is the last free stretch of the river between the McNary and Priest Rapids Dams, a place boasting a varied landscape of floodplains, wetlands, deserts, orchardsÑand nuclear reactors. This is not a place that people think to visit. Known primarily for hosting the countryÕs most toxic nuclear outpost, it is public land that barely exists in public consciousness. But because the Reach has been posted off-limits by the military since 1943, this book offers readers a little-seen glimpse into what the Pacific NorthwestÕs arid east was like before the postwar boom. Susan Zwinger has kayaked the Columbia through Hanford Reach with scientists and activists who are helping to restore it, and in this book she outlines the geographical extent of the Reach, reviews its history, and takes readers through the terrain by foot, on road, and on the river. Here is a land of dark lava flows and basalt cliffs interspersed throughout subtle, pale shrub-steppe, a table of aridity cut through by one of the countryÕs most prodigious rivers. ZwingerÕs sparkling text, enhanced by Skip SmithÕs striking photos, captures the subtleties of the contrasting vistas, just as it makes clear the depth of the radioactive poisoning within the soil and wildlife. We have only just begun to unfold the landÕs treasuresÑpetroglyphs, ancient village sites, new species, and geological wondersÑand in 2000, President Clinton protected 560 square miles of land as the Hanford Reach National Monument. This book celebrates what is preserved in that buffer zone at the dawn of a new era of environmental responsibility.

A practical volume for the home or business owner on landscaping with native, drought-tolerant plants in the Rocky Mountain West. Filled with color illustrations, photos, and design sketches, over 100 native species are described, while practical tips on landscape design, water-wise irrigation, and keeping down the weeds are provided. In this book you will learn how to use natural landscapes to inspire your own designed landscape around your business or home and yard. Included are design principles, practical ideas, and strong examples of what some homeowners have already done to convert traditional "bluegrass" landscapes into ones that are more expressive of theWest. Landscaping on the new Frontier also offers an approach to irrigation that minimizes the use of supplemental water yet ensures the survival of plants during unusually dry periods. You will learn how to combine ecological principles with design principles to create beautiful home landscapes that require only minimal resources to maintain.

The awe-inspiring story of explorer David Thompson, whose expeditions helped shape western North America In this true story of adventure, author Jack Nisbet re-creates the life and times of David Thompson—fur trader, explorer, surveyor, and mapmaker. From 1784 to 1812, Thompson explored western North America, and his field journals provide the earliest written accounts of the natural history and indigenous cultures of the what is now British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Thompson was the first person to chart the entire route of the Columbia river, and his wilderness expeditions have become the stuff of legend. Jack Nisbet tracks the explorer across the content, interweaving his own observations with Thompson’s historical writings. The result is a fascinating story of two men discovering the Northwest territory almost two hundred years apart.

How can you know a place? Historian and naturalist Jack Nisbet&—author of Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America&—looks to the relics of a region to connect the present moment to the distant past. In the vast Western territory defined by the Columbia River, Nisbet tracks the stories and meaning of relics such as a trilobite fossil that points to a tropical prehistoric ecology; the nearly extinct California condor, once the largest thing in the skies, described with amazement by Meriwether Lewis; the indelible stain of the smallpox pandemic that overcame the native peoples of the West; a rare and socially potent strain of indigenous wild tobacco that reveals the presence of vestigial Indian practices; and the remains of one Jaco Finlay, a mixed-blood trapper and scout who seems to have been everywhere in the region two hundred years ago. All of these relics are the visible bones that show how past is present in the Columbia River Country. Together the stories these bones tell lays out a wholly original, hybrid history that connects nature with human endeavor, geography with the passage of time&—all contribute to the biography of a place. The arrow of time travels in one direction, and this is usually how history is told: beginning to end. But Jack Nisbet is up to something else: journeys across time through a place, knitting past to present and back again to assemble a portrait of the land that marked the culmination of Lewis & Clark’s expedition, that saw the sad end of the Indian Wars with the flight of Chief Joseph, that has offered up fossil proof of mammoth species long extinct. In this western territory, the storied past is much in evidence.