Editor’s Note: Here is an inspirational example of “theory to practice.” Adam Wicks-Arshack ’10 runs a a river-based environmental education company that offers educational trips in 30 foot voyager canoes. The Spokane’s Spokesman Review covers his latest journey.
In the 1930’s, the construction of Grand Coulee Dam electrified to the a huge portion of the Northwest. As the lights were going on, members of the Spokane Tribe lost a staple of their diet: the bountiful salmon that each year returned to the upper third of the Columbia River and its tributaries.
Today, Adam Wicks-Arshack, Director of Voyages of Rediscovery, is leading 25 students from the Wellpinit School District onto the river, in a canoe they built themselves to discover their river-going history and lobby for expanded treaty rights to the fish that shaped their culture. Read the full article.
Inspiring story. I think Sherman Alexie is from Wellpinit. I hope this voyage starts a long interrupted connection with the river for the people of this region.