Like the ocean tumbling against the shore, waves of knowledge and understanding will enhance the minds of many people in years to come. Those waves are among the expected benefits of seven Confluence Project sites nearing completion in the Columbia River Basin.
Almost a decade ago the Confluence Project was established to commemorate, in a meaningful way, the Lewis and Clark journey (1803-06) to the Pacific Ocean. The latest project — seven Story Circles — will be dedicated Friday at 10 a.m. at Sacajawea State Park in Pasco. “There will be seven public places for people to be inspired, to look back, and to look forward,” said Jane Jacobsen, executive project director, and a Vancouver resident.
These will be places of deep reflection and deep respect of the past, as well as windows to the future, said Maya Lin, artistic mastermind of the project, as work began.
Jacobsen remembers clearly the day its first completed effort — part of the Lewis and Clark commemoration — opened in 2006 at Cape Disappointment State Park near Ilwaco, where the explorers first viewed the Pacific Ocean. The Project included a restored wetland and polished basalt fish-cleaning table just above the waters of Baker Bay at the mouth of the Columbia River. Here, the Chinook origin is inscribed in the basalt. A boardwalk contains entries from the Lewis and Clark journals.
“I get goose bumps” walking through the site, said former Gov. Gary Locke.
This was the first of seven project sites along a 450-mile reach of the Columbia. Eight years after she opened the Vancouver office, Jacobsen can look to the end of the vast artistic effort, with the Celilo Falls project expected to be built and dedicated in 2012. It will be a memorial to the Native Americans whose lives were change in 1957 when completion of The Dalles Dam silenced the falls. A 300-foot-long ramp will start in the park and be cantilevered over the river. Indians once stood on ramps with spears and nets to harvest salmon.
Clark County has key role
Upriver from the mouth of the Columbia, Confluence efforts are at Cape Disappointment, Ridgefield, Fort Vancouver National Site, Sandy River Delta, Celilo (Falls) Park, Sacajawea State Park and Chief Timothy Park.
Two are connected with Clark County: the Land Bridge at the Vancouver National Historic Site and a project in Ridgefield, adjacent to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. There, Lin will design a center for environmental research in cooperation with Washington State University and the Port of Ridgefield.
According to the Confluence website Journey Book (www.confluenceproject.org), all of the project sites have special qualities that explore the history and confluence of Native American and white cultures; language, flora, fauna and geology.
At the Sandy River, 500 acres were restored to native habitat, and an elliptical blind was built to camouflage people, allowing them to view birds and other wildlife.
Chief Timothy State Park is on an island in the Snake River near Lewiston, the easternmost of the seven sites. Artist Lin (of Vietnam War Memorial fame) wants to replant a portion of the island to native grasses and wildflowers. Rimmed earthwork will be sculpted into a natural amphitheater. The total cost to date at seven sites is $27million, mostly spent on the restoration of habitat and river bank, Jacobsen said. Funds were raised through public and private sources. The organization suffered a serious setback when the economy collapsed in 2008. Excellent staff and supportive citizens made recovery possible, she added.
The Confluence Project tells the history of Pacific Northwest changes brought by Lewis and Clark and calls for measures to protect the natural and cultural resources. Jacobsen said she has been happy “working with such a good staff on a project of great significance.”
Fifty to 100 years from now, the Confluence Project will continue this noble mission for our ancestors, for our history and to build bridges of cultural understanding.
