The Confluence Project is a series of outdoor installations and interpretive artworks located in public parks along the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

and its tributaries in the U.S. states of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Each art installation explores the confluence of history, culture and ecology of the Columbia River system. The project draws on the region's history, including Native American traditional stories and entries from the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

journals, to "evoke a landscape and a way of life submerged in time and memory." The project reaches from the mouth of the Columbia River to

Hells Canyon Hells Canyon is a canyon in the Western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in p ...

. Artist

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

designed installations that followed the path of Lewis and Clark through the Columbia River Basin. Lin collaborated with landscape architects, such as

Johnpaul Jones Johnpaul Jones (born July 24, 1941) is an American architect and landscape architect, partner in Seattle-based architecture firm Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, best known for innovative habitat immersion method design of zoo ...

, to produce earthen works that helped restore natural environments. Each artwork was based on traditions grounded in Native American cultures and drew text from Lewis and Clark's journals. Confluence is a community supported nonprofit 501(C)(3) based in Vancouver, Washington, incorporated in 2002. The mission is to connect people to the history, living cultures, and ecology of the Columbia River system through Indigenous voices.

Sites

;Washington *

Cape Disappointment State Park Cape Disappointment State Park (formerly Fort Canby State Park) is a public recreation area on Cape Disappointment, located southwest of Ilwaco, Washington, on the bottom end of Long Beach Peninsula, the northern headlands where the Columbia ...

, Ilwaco, Washington (Completed 2005, dedicated 2006) Ma

*

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge, one of the national wildlife refuges operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, located in the westernmost part of Clark County, Washington. The refuge protects more than o ...

, Vancouver, Washington (in planning stages) *

Vancouver Land Bridge The Vancouver Land Bridge connects Vancouver Waterfront Park to the Vancouver, Washington portion of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site using a path similar to an ancient Native American trail. The bridge, which spans Highway 14, has been ...

at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Vancouver, Washington (completed 2008) *

Sacajawea State Park Sacajawea State Park is a public recreation area and historical preserve in the city of Pasco, Washington, covering at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers where the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped on October 16, 1805. The stat ...

, Pasco, Washington (Completed 2010) * Chief Timothy Park, Clarkston, Washington (Scheduled for completion in Spring 2015) ;Oregon * Sandy River Delta Bird BlindConfluence Project: project sites: Sandy River Delta
/ref> (Completed 2008) *

Celilo Falls Celilo Falls (Wyam, meaning "echo of falling water" or "sound of water upon the rocks," in several native languages) was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. ...

(Scheduled for completion in 2016)

References

External links

Confluence Project
* * Outdoor sculptures in Washington (state) Outdoor sculptures in Oregon Columbia River Gorge {{Oregon-museum-stub