Painter of the Rain Coast
April 28, 2009
Story and Artwork by Erik Sandgren We live on a lee shore—pounding waves, big trees, big fish, big water, First Peoples, confluences, and tectonic movement. William Blake’s Nobodaddy erupts anew from ancient deeps. Look: Sea stacks on the outer shore rhyme with the vertical accents of old
Salmonberry
April 14, 2009
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) “If hemlock forms the weft of the woods, then salmonberry makes the woof-at least in countless swales and slopes where the yellow canes run at all angles to the walker who would needle his way through. Often the appearance of a magenta rose among the
Weather: A Year in Review
April 14, 2009
By Sherman Peabody– We Pacific Northwesterners are sometimes derided by outsiders for our propensity to talk about the weather. They suppose that our webfooted banter is for want of more interesting topics. But, had these climatologically-insensitive souls spent last year in these
Washaway Beach: The Moving Entrance to Willapa Bay
January 29, 2009
By Kathleen Sayce
In the past 150 years, the Willapa Entrance has changed dramatically. The earliest charts of this area in southwest Washington show a long spit arching down to the southeast from Cape Shoalwater, north of the entrance, and the main channel near present day Leadbetter Point, on the south end. Successive charts map the shift of the main channel northward over the next century-and-a-half. During those decades, Cape Shoalwater eroded into the surf from its south and west edges, and Leadbetter Point built up out of the surf northward. This situation is not unique to this or any other coastline, and serves as a severe reminder of the fragility of coastal lands built of sand. Similar stories could be told for Grays Harbor and Columbia Entrances. Read more
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
November 13, 2008
Story and Artwork by Brian F. Harrison
On everyone’s list of Top Ten Plants That Define the Pacific Northwest, you’ll probably find Sitka spruce, red alder, hemlock, Douglas fir and western red cedar. But look between and beneath those fine trees and you’ll likely encounter another Top Ten contender: the salal, more humble maybe, but ubiquitous in northwest forests, clearcuts, roadsides, and indeed everywhere it can spread its rhizomes.
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
June 3, 2008
It is difficult for us today to fully appreciate what western red cedar meant to the native cultures of the Northwest Coast. We have nothing that can compare. Not even plastic, the ubiquitous source of so much of our stuff, can provide the variety of essential material goods to our contemporary culture. Beyond that, the tree held a position of great spiritual significance among coastal peoples-a reverence unimaginable for any substance today. For the Native Americans of the Pacific Coast, cedar was their tree of life. Read more
Wildflowers of Saddle Mountain
May 14, 2008
Story and Photos by Laurie Choate
Stand anywhere in Clatsop and Pacific counties, and Saddle Mountain will be visible in the backdrop to the south. It is not an imposing peak, as mountains go, but provides a prominent landmark to northcoast residents. Read more
Act of Faith
May 7, 2008
by Jim LeMonds
My college roommates didn’t believe me when I told them about cone picking. The subject came up our sophomore year during a game of pinochle that evolved into a discussion of jobs we’d held in junior high and high school. Read more