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Conflict Within a Conflict
River’s Reach follows a high school senior who is torn between his family’s beliefs in conservation and the rights of the Nisqually tribe in the Fishing Wars, and he must decide what side to stand with. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
During the late 1960s, I began paying more attention to the news, probably because of the conflict in Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. The Fish Wars became part of the news cycle in the Pacific Northwest and garnered my interest. At some point, I had the idea of a story wherein a kid whose father was a Washington State Game Department officer begins to gravitate to the tribe’s point of view. The conflict within a conflict seemed like a viable storyline. For many years, I’ve been concerned about declining salmon stocks and what might be causing the drop. The fishing scenes are reminiscent of my attempts to catch steelhead. I have always been impressed with Billy Frank Jr., who was often interviewed in connection to news reports on the Fish Wars.
Are there any bits of you in this story?
As I think back on it there are quite a few autobiographical influences. The fish egg caper is something that I actually did, although it was with the Nooksack rather than the Nisqually. The Steilacoom fishing trip is recounted almost as I experienced it in real life. I’m sorry to say that the drunk-tank scene is something that I also lived through, although not for drinking or any other heinous crime (perhaps the subject for another story). “What you are to be, you are now becoming” was my High School motto, but I didn’t attend North Thurston HS. The snowstorm in the story loosely fictionalizes an event that took place while I was teaching sixth grade in the Snohomish School District.
What kind of research did you do for this novel to ensure you captured the essence of the story’s theme?
The most salient research/inspiration is simply living in the northwest during the mid-1960s about sixty miles north of the Nisqually River. I visited Frank’s Landing (or what’s left of it since the Fish Wars) several times and checked out the tribe’s relatively new casino, which partially funded the new tribal center and contributes to many of the tribe’s current aspirations. I reviewed multiple online reports from the Fish Wars as well as several local histories of the tribes. I think it’s also fair to say that time spent on a river trying to catch a steelhead qualifies as research for this book.
What is the next book you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
The next book is set in Seattle during the blackouts in 1943. As the war rages in Europe, the home front is portrayed through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Scotty Johansen. When an unknown party begins setting fires during the blackouts, Scotty, his sister, and some of Scotty’s friends set their minds to solving the mystery of who’s igniting them. I’m hoping to release the book next spring.
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Life is good for high school senior Alex Haugen. He has a group of buddies to fish the Nisqually River with, his membership on the football team guarantees status with his peers, and he’s recently set his sights on Amanda Schneider – an engaging blend of brains, beauty, and personality. He’s beginning to think that the lead cheerleader and star lineman go together like burgers and fries.
Learning that his dad participated in the latest fishing raid at Frank’s Landing, Alex’s curiosity is piqued. The more he reads, the more he realizes how little he knows about the deep-rooted conflict between the Washington State Game Department and local tribes. The state claims the right to enforce conservation measures and the tribes claim that their treaty rights supersede state regulations.
Alex has strong convictions about conservation but wonders if there’s more to the story. Indian netting can’t be the only reason fish are in decline. Strident and entrenched certainties dominate both sides of the fishing controversy, and Alex begins to resent that a side may have been chosen for him at birth.
Chancing conflict with his dad – an officer with the game department – Alex’s quest for understanding rouses discovery of his own voice and the courage to stand apart from his parents and peers. Along the way, he befriends Charlie McCallister, a Nisqually Indian his dad arrested in a raid.
Amanda, whose mom does pro bono work for the tribe, is a social justice warrior at heart. As the fish war heats up, her readiness to support the tribe clashes with Alex’s reluctance to rock the boat with his father and threatens to drive a wedge in their blossoming romance.
Charlie, Amanda, and the Nisqually River form the key catalysts for Alex’s awakening as the story unfolds against the backdrop of a nation gripped by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the seismic tunes of rock ‘n roll.
This novel is suitable for MG/YA and the young at heart. It contains no gratuitous language, but there are a few swear words, in keeping with the characters and story.
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