Please join the Greater Hells Canyon Council in Walla Walla on Thursday, November 5th for Beavers in the Blues, an evening talk on beaver-based restoration and the art of rivers, with Stewardship Manager Ian Wilson and photographer Tara J Graves.
Ian Wilson will talk about how beaver-based restoration benefits streams and the landscapes around them. He’ll also share the restoration work he’s done in Walla Walla this year, including a recent project at Walla Walla Community College.
We’ll also look at restoration through an artistic lens. Photographs by Tara J Graves, our 2026 Wild Blues Artist in Residence, are on display next to the Sheehan Gallery. Her images document the Wilson-Haun project, a restoration of the Wallowa River where it runs through Ian’s family ranch. Crews reconnected side channels, built beaver dam analogs, and replanted the floodplain to bring back habitat for salmon and steelhead, and the pictures tell the story. The Sheehan Gallery will be open, and the current show explores the Snake River drainage and water across a range of mediums, and the talk will touch on the themes running through those works as well.
The event is free and open to all.