This month, Spokane Riverkeeper’s Clean Water Defense program has been busy advancing protections for the Spokane River. Here’s a look at some of the threats we’re addressing and the actions we’ve taken to keep the river healthy.

What a night! Thank you to live painting by Kirsten Stobie, live music by The River Rockers, Olivia and Scott Brownlee, Salish School Drum Group, Cutboard Studio for the video, and to Louis Bates, Eleanor Limmer, John Nelson, Ben Van Voorhis, Leah Welki —our storytellers and poets. Thank you as well to our sponsors, donors, volunteers and every guest who joined us for Spoken River. In one evening, your collective energy and voices helped safeguard 73 miles of river.

This past summer, we saw something in the Spokane River that none of us had ever seen before: a stretch of river almost a mile and a half long completely dry. We’ve seen very low flows and dry side channels, but never anything this extreme. Community members who have lived and recreated on this stretch for decades reported this was beyond anything they had ever experienced.