Recent News
Spokane River Salmon: Past. Present. Future.
Spokane Public Library and the Spokane Tribe of Indians Present
Spokane River Salmon: Past. Present. Future.
An Exhibit at Central Library
Spokane, WA – Spokane Public Library and the Spokane Tribe of Indians are partnering on a new exhibit at Central Library that illuminates the vital and intergenerational relationship between tribal people and Spokane River salmon.
On display September 19–November 30, Spokane River Salmon: Past. Present. Future. brings together the artwork of Spokane Tribal artist and member George Hill, materials from Spokane Public Library’s Inland Northwest Special Collections, and resources from the Spokane Tribe’s Anadromous Program.
Curated by local writers and historians Jack and Claire Nisbet, the exhibit features Hill’s watercolor paintings, pen-and-ink drawings, dioramas, and replica fishing tools, alongside historic photographs and texts documenting the relationship between salmon, people, and the Spokane River.
“Salmon are a totem for the Columbia Basin and the entire Northwest,” said Nisbet. “Their story reaches back thousands of years, which is what gives their continued presence – and their decline – so much weight. For Indigenous communities in particular, that connection is impossible to forget. The exhibit offers a chance for viewers to reconnect with that history, imagine the rivers of the past, and consider what the presence of these resilient fish might mean for their future.”
Visitors will also be able to learn about the Spokane Tribe’s Anadromous Program, which is the Spokane Tribe’s leading initiative in returning salmon to the river. Since 2022, the Spokane Tribe, in collaboration with the Upper Columbia United Tribes, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and Coeur d’Alene Tribe, has released approximately 10,000 adult summer Chinook salmon and hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon into waters upstream of regional dams.
The exhibit will be accompanied by a series of free public programs featuring exhibit curators Jack and Claire Nisbet, tribal artist George Hill, and Anadromous Program Manager Conor Giorgi.
Spokane River Salmon: Past. Present. Future. — Exhibit Opening Reception
Saturday, September 19, 1pm | nxʷyxʷyetkʷ Hall, Central Library
In this laid-back meet and greet, tribal artist George Hill, Spokane Tribal Fisheries Anadromous program manager Conor Giorgi, and local author Jack Nisbet introduce the exhibit.
A Conversation with Spokane Tribal Artist George Hill
Thursday, October 1, 10:30am | nxʷyxʷyetkʷ Hall, Central Library
In this all-ages-friendly event, George Hill will discuss the art he produced for the library’s “Spokane River Salmon: Past. Present. Future” exhibit with naturalist and author Jack Nisbet.
Spokane River Salmon: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?
Tuesday, October 6, 5:30pm | nxʷyxʷyetkʷ Hall, Central Library
Conor Giorgi, director of the Spokane Tribal Fisheries Anadromous Program, will lead a discussion about efforts happening now and in the future for Spokane River salmon.
A River Full of Fish: Early Visions of the Spokane Watershed
Thursday, October 15, 11 | Events A, Central Library
Join local author Jack Nisbet for a slideshow exploring early visitors’ journals and artwork—and what they reveal about the Spokane watershed, ecology, fish, and human landscape.
For more information, contact:
Alina Murcar, Spokane Public Library Marketing and Communications Manager, 509.444.5364
COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES TALK | The Art of Fire: Tribal Burning on the Northwest Landscape
Join us for a Community Perspectives Talk with Spokane-based author Jack Nisbet
Thursday, September 17, 2026
The Art of Fire: Tribal Burning on the Northwest Landscape
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Washington State University
Join Spokane-based teacher and naturalist Jack Nisbet for a presentation of fur trade era paintings that demonstrate how Plateau and Coastal peoples used intentional burning to manage the landscapes around them. With tribal oral accounts and early journal observations for context, we will explore details from these early artworks to shed light on relevant landscapes from The Mirror that Nature Holds: From the Collections of Jordan Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.
Community Perspectives Talks & Tours invite individuals from our campus and wider community to speak about their unique interpretation of several works in the current exhibitions, charting connections among art, personal experience, and different disciplines.
About the Speaker | Spokane-based author Jack Nisbet has written several collections of essays that explore the human and natural history of the Columbia River drainage, as well as award-winning biographies of cartographer David Thompson, naturalist David Douglas, and homesteader/forest surveyor/physician couple John and Carrie Leiberg. The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau and David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work are published by WSU Press. In 2018, the Washington State Historical Society awarded Nisbet the Robert Gray medal for significant and long-term contributions to Northwest history. For more information visit www.jacknisbet.com
Image Credit | James Madison Alden, “Kootenai Falls”, 1860, National Archives
Location & Parking
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU is located in the Crimson Cube (on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium and the CUB) on the WSU Pullman campus. Hourly parking is available in the Smith Center Garage off Stadium Way. For more information please see the museum’s Visit page.
New Visual Essays
Jack and Claire have recently posted two new visual essays on HistoryLink.org.
Little Spokane River Guided Hike
Join us for a spring hike to discuss the ecology and cultural history of the area.
WHEN: Saturday, May 9 @ 9am
WHERE: Knothead Trail Parking Lot- 5640 W. Rutter Parkway
TERRAIN: unpaved, hilly trail
PARKING: Discover Pass required – www.discoverpass.wa.gov
Dress for the weather and bring drinking water!
Not permitted: dogs, strollers, bicycles.
Questions? Please contact Kara Frashefski at 509-505-7721 or kara.frashefski@parks.wa.gov
RIVERSIDE STATE PARK
BCHS Membership Meeting Presentation: Birds
Tuesday, April 28th
5:00pm at The Hive, 207 N First Avenue, Sandpoint
Join the BCHS Board of Trustees at the Annual Membership Meeting at the Hive. BCHS Members’ presence is cordially requested, and the meeting is free and open to the public. Join for our 2025 annual report and updates from the Board.
We are thrilled to announce the meeting will be followed by a presentation by Jack Nisbet, author of several collections of essays that explore the human and natural history of the Northwest, as well as award-winning biographies of cartographer David Thompson (Sources of the River) naturalist David Douglas (The Collector), and John and Carrie Leiberg (The Dreamer and the Doctor).
Nisbet’s presentation is inspired by Nisbet’s mother and grandmother, who taught him about birds during his youth along the Catawba River in the Carolinas. Tickets are $15 for BCHS members / $20 general public. Learn more here.
Earth Fest 2026
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service), with the support of The Lands Council, will be
hosting their annual Earth Fest event at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) on Saturday, April 25 as a celebration of Earth Day. Like previous years, this event is a collaborative effort which focuses on shared mission priorities including conservation, habitat enhancement, and community engagement. Earth Fest is a stewardship-focused event and invites public participation from all ages.
Attendees will assist with potting bare-root trees for future restoration projects, working to remove exclusionary fencing from around previous years’ plantings, and new for this year, a forestry project aimed at thinning a dense forest habitat.
The event is scheduled to last from 9:00 am through 1:00 pm. In between stewardship activities, attendees can explore informational booths and hands-on activities from partner agencies and non-profit organizations such as Spokane Audubon, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Ice Age Floods Institute, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and more. The event will conclude with a keynote presentation by local author and naturalist Jack Nisbet.
Learn more and RSVP at: https://landscouncil.org/events/earth-fest-2025-2d2rh
Read the event press release here. View the event flyer here.
‘Train Dreams’ movie and discussion coming to the Panida
Movie and book fans will have a chance to see the Oscar-nominated movie Train Dreams on the big screen, when the Panida Theater shows the film on March 13 in an event that will include a discussion of the movie and the book it was adapted from.
The book and film are of special interest locally. Train Dreams is set around the turn of the 20th century in the Inland Northwest, in the era when the railroads and logging were the major industries. Much of the story takes place along the Moyie River – in the book spelled as a historical variant, the Moyea – where railroad and timber laborer Robert Grainier builds a remote cabin and attempts to retreat to a life with his wife and young daughter. The events in the story form a meditation on tragedy, fate, and grief during a time of monumental change in the region.
Published in 2011, the short novel was written by the late Denis Johnson, an author of national stature who did himself have a home on the Moyie River with his wife Cindy. The novel was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize; another novel by Johnson, Tree of Smoke, was also a Pulitzer finalist and won the 2007 National Book Award for fiction.
The movie was filmed at locations around eastern Washington and has won high praise for its beautiful cinematography and powerful performances by actors Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones and William H. Macy. Directed by Clint Bentley, it is nominated for four Oscars, including best picture.
The movie is distributed by Netflix but did not receive wide theatrical release, so the showing here is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen – and it will come just two days before the Academy Awards take place on March 15.
Following the movie showing, there will be a discussion of the book and film. Jack Nisbet, author of multiple books on the human and natural history of the region, scouted North Idaho locations with Bentley and co-producer Greg Kwedar in 2021, discussing both local context and the transition from book to film. Nisbet later watched a Train Dreams scene filmed at a sawmill north of Colville. He’ll be joined on stage by Barb Rawlings, a longtime family friend of Denis and Cindy Johnson, who can tell more about the author and some of their discussions of the book and its story. Chris Bessler, Sandpoint Magazine publisher and an acquaintance as well of Johnson, will moderate.
Audience participation is invited for the post-show discussion, and Bessler encourages everyone who might attend to give the book a read first. “It’s a beautifully written book,” he said. “That it’s set right here in a fascinating time historically makes it even more compelling. I think the movie captures the feel and mood of the book, but there are differences that will make for interesting talk.”
Copies of Train Dreams are available at Sandpoint Books and Bonners Books.
Movie showtime will be 7 p.m. on Friday, March 13, at the historic Panida Theater. Admission is $15, and proceeds will benefit the Panida. Underwriters for the evening are Sandpoint Books and Sandpoint Magazine.
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For more information, contact: Heather White, Panida Theater, at <director@panida.org>
Photo Credit: Greg Kwedar
KYRS: Earth Matters Now
On Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Jack joined Nick Jeffries, the Wildland Resource Planner for the City of Spokane, on KYRS’s Earth Matters Now! for a two-hour conversation about fire on the Inland Northwest landscape. Hosted by Laura Ackerman and Mike Peterson, this episode can now be accessed as a podcast by going to https://archive.kyrs.org/ and scrolling down to the 12:00-2:00 pm time slot for January 27th. You can also download it by clicking here.
2025 Updates
Jack continues to lead walks for various organizations around the Spokane area. Since many of these excursions have a short lead time, the best way to find out about them is to get on our mailing list by sending an email request on the Contact Page.
Jack has also completed a pair of visual essays for HistoryLink.org that explore tribal use of fire on the landscape around the period of contact—one for east of the Cascades, one for the west side.
You can view them at
https://historylink.org/File/23302
https://historylink.org/File/23301
Upcoming dates to note:
Fort Colvile Summit
October 18, 2025: 10AM-3PM
Mistequa Hotel and Casino
Register and learn more here
Jack will moderate a wide-ranging conversation about the impact of Fort Colvile across our region at the Mistequa Hotel in Chewelah. The panel participants will offer a wealth of talent and perspective about thorny issues that still resonate today.
Illuminations: Naturalists & Botanicals with Jack Nisbet
November 13, 2025: 11AM-Noon
Spokane Central Library
Jack will join Dana Bronson and Sharma Shields in the Spokane Public Library’s Northwest Room to page through various published editions of David Douglas’s field journals from the Northwest. Join us to explore these treasures from the Northwest Room vault and learn more about what Douglas saw while he was here in 1826 and 27.
Newly Listed 2024 Speaking Events
WSU Press has just released the first paperback edition of David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work. This highly illustrated collection of essays describes David Douglas’s time in the Pacific Northwest through period artwork, tribal interactions, archival treasures, herbarium specimens, and tracking the trails and waterways that Douglas traveled.
For more information, click here.
Jack will be making presentations about:
- David Douglas’s journeys across the Columbia Plateau at The Sandhill Crane Festival in Othello, Washington, on March 23 at 2:30 p.m.
- Mammoth bone finds around the margins of Ice Age Floods at the Ice Age Flood Institute’s annual Jubilee in Spokane on June 7.
- John and Carrie Leiberg’s homestead site at Farragut State Park on Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho. This presentation will be held at the Athol Community Center on June 15 as part of the Idaho Native Plant Society’s annual meeting.
- Wildfire 1991 in the Dishman Hills at the Spokane Valley Library (details to come).
See UPCOMING EVENTS to check out these events plus other hikes and presentations scheduled for 2024 as they become finalized.