"Examining water issues through the lens of major Western U.S. watersheds, River Basins of the American West explores why water has been, and remains, the West's most essential and controversial subject." "Char Miller has organized writings collected from the pages of High Country News, the voice of Western environmental issues, into sections defined by the great watersheds of the West. Arguably, these drainage systems form the real boundaries of...

Steven Hawley, journalist and self-proclaimed "river rat," argues that the best hope for the Snake River lies in dam removal, a solution that pits the power authorities and Army Corps of Engineers against a collection of Indian tribes, farmers, fishermen, and river recreationists. The river's health, as he demonstrates, is closely connected to local economies, fresh water rights, energy independence-and even the health of orca whales in Puget Sound....

A RIVER BETWEEN US documents the largest river restoration project in American history. Nearly three hundred miles in length, flowing from southern Oregon to northern California, the vast communities of the Klamath River have been feuding over its water for generations, and as a result, bad blood has polluted their river and their relationships equally. The film examines the complicated history of this conflict: how anger, fear and distrust have undermined...