The Columbia River history entries were written by John Harrison, the Council's Information Officer. A number of individuals with expertise in Columbia River history and environmental issues read these entries to help ensure their accuracy. Seven read all of the entries:
- Jim Lichatowich of Columbia City, Oregon, a fisheries scientist and author of Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis. Jim also serves on a panel of independent scientists who advise the Council.
- Bill Willingham of Portland, retired as the historian for the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bill is the author of several works of Columbia River history, including Water Power in the Wilderness and Army Engineers and the Development of Oregon: A History of the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Bill Dietrich of Anacortes, Washington, author of Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River, and several other books. In the early 1980s, we were colleagues on the reporting staff at The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Washington.
- Bill Lang of Portland, historian, author, and professor of history at Portland State University. Bill is highly respected as a historian of the Northwest and the Columbia River.
- John Volkman of Portland, attorney and author of A River in Common: The Columbia River, The Salmon Ecosystem, and Water Policy. John has served as the fish and wildlife attorney for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and also as assistant regional administrator for habitat for NOAA Fisheries. Currently he is general counsel for the Energy Trust of Oregon.
- John Shurts, general counsel of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and author of Indian Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Doctrine in its Social and Legal Context, 1880s-1930s. John also is an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
- Peter Paquet, the Council’s manager of wildlife and resident fish, is a wildlife biologist and author of numerous articles in the field of fisheries science.
Several Council staff members reviewed entries specific to their areas of expertise. These include Terry Morlan, the Council’s director of power planning, Mark Walker, the Council’s director of public affairs, and Tom Eckman, the Council’s manager of conservation analysis.
Dulcy Mahar, communications manager for the Bonneville Power Administration, reviewed the entries regarding that agency. Craig Sprankle of the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam read the two entries on the dam, and Roger Fuhrman of the Idaho Power Company read the entry on Hells Canyon Dam. Daniel Pope, a history professor at the University of Oregon, reviewed the entry on the Hydro-Thermal Power Program. He is the author of Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System, which is scheduled for publication by Cambridge University Press in 2007.
Thanks also to Anne Edwards of Moyie, British Columbia, for reviewing entries regarding the Canadian Columbia River Basin. Ms. Edwards is an author, college professor and historian who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for 10 years, including five years as the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Columbia Basin Trust.
Amy Echols, communications manager for the Washington Department of Transportation Southwest Region, provided information on Columbia River bridges, as did Janet Mason, provincial toponymist in the Base Mapping & Geomatic Services Branch of the BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. Gary Farnden, Senior Bridge Rehabilitation Engineer, and Dale Wood, Research Officer, both with the BC Ministry of Transportation, provided information and photos of Columbia River bridges in the province.
Three experts reviewed the entries regarding the Columbia River Treaty: Anthony White, who directs treaty-related work at the Bonneville Power Administration; Nigel Bankes, an expert in international water management issues and a professor at the University of Calgary Law School; and Tim Newton, who worked on Columbia River Treaty issues for BC Hydro for 30 years and, following his retirement in 1993, was appointed as one of four members of the international Permanent Engineering Board established under the treaty.
Three individuals helped with entries regarding American Indian tribes and Canadian First Nations in the Columbia River Basin. Lionel Boyer of Blackfoot, Idaho, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, gave permission to quote from his May 1999 speech to members of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Sophie Pierre of Cranbrook, B.C., a member of the Ktunaxa-Kinbasket First Nation, gave permission to quote from her 1993 speech at a forum in Vernon, B.C., on the recovery and enhancement of transboundary fish and wildlife populations. Charles Hudson, public information manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and Mary Verner, executive director of the Upper Columbia United Tribes, reviewed the entries on tribes and fishing issues.
Irene Martin read the entry on commercial fishing. Ms. Martin is a historian, author, and an ordained Episcopal priest who lives in Cathlamet, Washington, where she has served St. James Episcopal Church since 1992. With her husband, Kent, she has fished commercially for salmon on the Columbia River, Willapa Bay, and Bristol Bay, Alaska. Her books include "Legacy and Testament," the story of Columbia River gillnetters (Washington State University Press, 1994).
Finally, the Council received permission to quote from copyrighted materials from the following copyright holders:
- Excerpts from Grand Coulee: Harnessing a Dream, by Paul Pitzer, posted by permission from Washington State University Press. All rights reserved.
- Excerpts from The Course of Empire, by Bernard DeVoto, copyright 1952 and renewed 1980 by Bernard DeVoto, reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.