High Prairie’s Jake Jakabosky will be giving a one-hour presentation in April at the White Salmon Library. Jake will draw on his professional background in environmental clean-up to briefly cover some of the core environmental laws enacted in the 70s and 80s. These laws, such as Superfund and Community Right-to-Know, have done much to protect the public, workers, and the environment, and to clean up dangerous waste sites. Included will be a few examples of those laws in action in the Gorge and some local issues of current concern.

The final piece of the talk will explore what individuals can do to protect and improve the environmental quality of the Columbia Gorge where we live. Here Jake’s message is inspired by speeches which Dae Dahlquist, a 9-year-old White Salmon boy, gave to Oregon’s governor and the Washington State Legislature. Dae encourages people — young and old — to be strong, to operate from a place of hope, and to make their concerns and desires for a safer, cleaner environment known. Expanding on that message, Jake will discuss ways people can make a difference: getting informed, taking a position, getting inspired, and getting motivated.

The presentation is part of “Wild About Nature IV,” a natural history lecture series organized by Joy Markgraf, offered at the White Salmon Library on the four Fridays in April. Jake’s talk, titled “Protecting the Gorge – What You Can Do,” will be on April 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Editor’s Note: Read Dae Dahlquist’s speech in the Columbia Riverkeepers’ Spring 2014 newsletter (page 10) http://columbiariverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CRnewsletterSpring2014_FINALlowres.pdf