Some news on the project front, which partially explains the slow output on this end lately in terms of hidden hydrology updates: I’m moving from Seattle back to Portland. As regular readers know, the project origins are firmly rooted in Portland, including plenty of documentation and expansion of ideas around Tanner Springs Creek (seen below), and maybe I will finally track down one of those elusive ‘I Kayaked Tanner Creek‘ t-shirts of legend. Anyway, happy to announce this news, and Portland folks, let me know if you’re interested in some exploring in coming months.
There’s also a plethora of other areas to explore, and also to compare and contrast the unique dichotomy of Portland as a river city and Seattle as more of a ocean & lake city, and what that means/meant for development. On that note, one item I’ve not announced is some of the work figuring out the best format for a Hidden Hydrology Atlas that will span both Seattle and Portland – so stay tuned for more of this as technology and funding aligns. For now you can see the early version of the online example of interactive maps I’m testing out using a combination of Mapbox and my GIS database of information. Early days, but the potential is there, and it will expand into something more comprehensive and multi-media.
While I did get to explore a number of Seattle hidden streams, there’s so much more to do and lots to document for Ravenna, Yesler, and Green Lake, and hopefully coming back up to do more investigations. In the interim, one of my explorations I documented here in Seattle from last summer, Licton Springs, was the departure point for an essay I wrote recently for The Nature of Cities that was just published this week. Read ‘Map and Explore: Hidden Hydrology’ for some thoughts on exploring our places and connecting with our culture, geography and ecology.
So, stay tuned as projects, posts, and explorations will all pick up over the summer months. And as always, thanks for reading. See you all in Portland soon.
-Jason