Out West

Fire Lookout Tower Maleur National Forest, Oregon

Fire spotters have long been seasonally employed in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where from tall towers they watch the surrounding forest for signs of fire. Many of the towers have been replaced by electronic and satellite systems.

Richardson Highway Alaska

A lone vehicle on the Richardson Highway as it passes through the Alaska Range. The Highway runs from the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay high in the Alaskan Arctic to the port town of Valdez on Prince William Sound.

Glacier , Alaska range

Alaskan glaciers and mountains from the remote unpaved Denali Highway that runs through wilderness between Cantwell near Mt Denali to Paxton north of Valdez

Traditional Haida Canoe Decorations

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative School in Seattle how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' Childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. As Saaduuts beats a cadence the canoe is carried up the beach and through the village to the school gymnasium, where a ceremony and Potlach have been prepared.

An aqueduct siphons water from the Colorado River and towards Los Angeles

bathing prohibited copy

Butte, Montana

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the mine structures and deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds

Butte Montana copper mine tailings

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the mine structures and deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds

Open pit mine, Butte Montana

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds

Butte, Montana

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the mine structures and deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds.

Clear cut OlympicNational Forest

Environmentalists have long fought against the practice of clear cutting which causes dramatic erosion of fragile soils and fills critical salmon streams with silt

Nuclear test site, Nevada

At the Nevada Test Site 65 miles West of Las Vegas, many nuclear devices were tested beginning in 1951 through 1992. Some buildings on the site remain standing but are a gaunt reminder of past activities.

Butte Montana

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the mine structures and deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds

Haida Boy, Hydaburg, Alaska

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative School in Seattle how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. As Saaduuts beats a cadence the canoe is carried up the beach and through the village to the school gymnasium, where a ceremony and Potlach have been prepared.

Carving Cultural Connections

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative school in Seattle, how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. To come ashore at Hydaburg, Saaduuts must ask permission of a village elder (who is dressed in a traditional button robe and cedar hat) before the canoe is allowed to land.

Haida tribal elder with carved cane

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative School in Seattle how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. As Saaduuts beats a cadence the canoe is carried up the beach and through the village to the school gymnasium, where a ceremony and Potlach have been prepared.

Carving Cultural Connections

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative School in Seattle how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' Childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. As Saaduuts beats a cadence the canoe is carried up the beach and through the village to the school gymnasium, where a ceremony and Potlach have been prepared.

Kids and Villagers Deliver Traditional Canoe as Gift to Community, Hydaburg Alaska

Over a two year period, Haida artisan Saaduuts, who had rediscovered his culture after a long absence from his native community, taught a group of elementary and middle school students at an alternative School in Seattle how to carve a traditional cedar canoe by hand. Then the group journeyed to Saaduuts' Childhood home of Hydaburg Alaska, where they gave the canoe to the community. As Saaduuts beats a cadence the canoe is carried up the beach and through the village to the school gymnasium, where a ceremony and Potlach have been prepared.

Bridge over remnants of the Colorado River near the Mexican border

For decades little has been left of the Colorado River by the time it reaches Mexico. Global warming and climate change has dramatically magnified the problem.

A flock of herons take flight, Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge

In the desert near the town of Fallon Nevada, migratory birds at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge have long had to deal with the disruption of jets from a nearby navel air station . Now years of drought in the West and the broader impacts of climate change pose new and more daunting threats.

Butte Montana abandoned copper mine

Copper mining once made Butte Montana one of the wealthiest cities in the Western US. After the mines have played out the mine structures and deep open pits remain and toxic byproducts of the mining processes contaminate ground water and the rivers it feeds

Yakama tribal member dip net fishing on the Columbia River

Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest have for centuries depended on salmon they caught in the Columbia River but the many dams on the river and other environment issues have drastically diminished the salmon runs.

Sweet Home, Oregon, jobless millworker

In the logging town of Sweet Home, Robert Tenbusch photographed at home with his wife Debbie and one of their four children, lost his job when Willamette Industries closed their local lumber mill.

Graduate student looks for endangered amphibian species near The Sisters Mountains in Oregon's Cascade Mountain range

Amphibians are often viewed as an indicator species of threatened environments. Indications are the rana cascadae , the Cascades frog and rana Aurora, the tiny red legs frog are threaten by climate change induced warming waters and diminished water flow in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Counting migrating Columbia River Salmon, The Dalles Dam,

Tracking the numbers of migrating salmon and thus the health of the species can sometimes be tedious low tech work, as is the case for these employees at the Army Corps of Engineers managed Dalles Dam counting salmon passing through the dam's fish ladder.

Olympic National Forest logging operation

On a timber "side" (designated cut area) loggers set cable chokers around the trunks of cut down giant old growth Douglas fir trees. The logs are then hauled up over head on a cable system to a landing where they are loaded onto log trucks, Choker setting is one of the most dangerous jobs in logging as the cables sometimes snap sending huge logs at the workers below.