‘Do Something Big’: Photographer Helps Tell Columbia River History In ‘Healing The Big River’—Northwest Public Broadcasting Interview

Fisherman Randy Friedlander, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, conducts ceremony placing carcasses of salmon at the base of Grand Coulee Dam to honor ancestors and show salmon the way when fish runs are restored. CREDIT: Peter Pochocki Marbach

Standing on top of Oregon’s Mount Hood, photographer Peter Pochocki Marbach looked down to the Columbia River, snaking its way through the gorge to the north.

He’d undergone open-heart surgery eight months earlier. Hiking along the river’s edge helped him recover.

He watched as the water stretched on forever.

“I made a promise that at some point I would do something to honor the Columbia and thank the river for its role in helping me heal,” Marbach recalls. “So I said, ‘Someday I’m going to do something.’ But that someday took a long time.”