Columbia Insight

06/24/2026

Creator, main writer and producer Tim Dobyns is a former communications and engagement director for Friends of the Columbia Gorge. Narrator Aaron Provencio is a former orca recovery specialist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Aaron and I both have history here,” Dobyns tells Columbia Insight.

The two previously worked together at the Galápagos Conservancy in Washington, D.C., before independently coming to the Pacific Northwest.

Their experiences in the region helped shape the podcast, “so those stories happen to be on our radar first,” says Dobyns.

The premiere slate of “Ecocide” episodes digs into environmental issues across the country and world, including the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, where the term “ecocide” was coined.

Other episodes explore regional environmental disasters such as the 2014 Oso Landslide in Washington, which killed 43 people; the illegal Zimmerly Mine operation in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in the late 2010s; and ongoing challenges at Hanford nuclear site in Washington.

Link to story in bio.

06/24/2026

Trogloraptor tulishpun - our Columbia Gorge Spider.

06/23/2026

Check out this new podcast covering environmental disasters in PNW.

Called “Ecocide,” the podcast by two Pacific Northwesterners and conservationists debuted this month.

Creator, main writer and producer Tim Dobyns is a former communications and engagement director for Friends of the Columbia Gorge. Narrator Aaron Provencio is a former orca recovery specialist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Aaron and I both have history here,” Dobyns tells Columbia Insight.

The two previously worked together at the Galápagos Conservancy in Washington, D.C., before independently coming to the Pacific Northwest.

Their experiences in the region helped shape the podcast, “so those stories happen to be on our radar first,” says Dobyns.

The premiere slate of “Ecocide” episodes digs into environmental issues across the country and world, including the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, where the term “ecocide” was coined.

Other episodes explore regional environmental disasters such as the 2014 Oso Landslide in Washington, which killed 43 people; the illegal Zimmerly Mine operation in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in the late 2010s; and ongoing challenges at Hanford nuclear site in Washington.

“The earth doesn’t forget and neither should we” say founders of Ecocide, which launched this month Going deep: Workers excavate a container of waste from an

06/19/2026

As someone who uses AI and yet sees how expansive its impacts can be, I feel responsible to look into how AI, which is powered by large data centers, is affecting our environment and communities.

As I write this, I’m looking out my window at open, green hills, sloping toward a curve in the Columbia River. Trees and homes dot the landscape along the riverbank. Snow-capped Mount Adams peeks over the Columbia River Gorge.

Amid this scene, a column of steam rising from a massive Google data center in The Dalles, Ore., is impossible to miss.

According to my ChatGPT “Wrapped” (like Spotify’s Wrapped), I was a top user of ChatGPT in 2025. I knew I was an active user, but I felt a twinge of surprise upon seeing this, mixed with a sense of guilt and responsibility.

I primarily use ChatGPT, and now Gemini and Claude, to expand my knowledge, help write and edit code and occasionally review emails.

And yet even as a “top user” my personal use is comparatively small. At least 78% of companies have adopted some form of AI in the workplace, representing a massive shift and widespread uptake.

In the Pacific Northwest, data centers require large amounts of freshwater, both for generating electricity that powers data centers and for cooling operations.

Companies that operate data centers tend not to disclose just how much water they consume, calling this information a trade secret.

Because the public doesn’t have a good idea of just how much water data centers are using, nor the impact of such usage, the issue has become contentious.

I decided to use the Google data centers in The Dalles (located along the Columbia River) as a case study to do some digging into how much water data centers are using, what this means for local communities and measures individuals can take in response.

Read full story- Link in bio

06/18/2026

OPINION: Questioning how much water AI is actually using, an AI user concerned about the impacts of data centers asks Where’s the middle ground?

As someone who uses AI and yet sees how expansive its impacts can be, I feel responsible to look into how AI, which is powered by large data centers, is affecting our environment and communities.

As I write this, I’m looking out my window at open, green hills, sloping toward a curve in the Columbia River. Trees and homes dot the landscape along the riverbank. Snow-capped Mount Adams peeks over the Columbia River Gorge.

Amid this scene, a column of steam rising from a massive Google data center in The Dalles, Ore., is impossible to miss.

According to my ChatGPT “Wrapped” (like Spotify’s Wrapped), I was a top user of ChatGPT in 2025. I knew I was an active user, but I felt a twinge of surprise upon seeing this, mixed with a sense of guilt and responsibility.

I primarily use ChatGPT, and now Gemini and Claude, to expand my knowledge, help write and edit code and occasionally review emails.

And yet even as a “top user” my personal use is comparatively small. At least 78% of companies have adopted some form of AI in the workplace, representing a massive shift and widespread uptake.

In the Pacific Northwest, data centers require large amounts of freshwater, both for generating electricity that powers data centers and for cooling operations.

Companies that operate data centers tend not to disclose just how much water they consume, calling this information a trade secret.

Because the public doesn’t have a good idea of just how much water data centers are using, nor the impact of such usage, the issue has become contentious.

I decided to use the Google data centers in The Dalles (located along the Columbia River) as a case study to do some digging into how much water data centers are using, what this means for local communities and measures individuals can take in response.

Read story at Columbia Insight.

I use AI. I’m concerned about the impacts of data centers. Where’s the middle ground? Sky's the limit: Plumes from data centers are

06/17/2026

Ahead of what many experts are predicting will be an intense fire season, why in the blazes would the BLM abruptly remove more than a dozen Pacific Northwest wildland information officers from their jobs? The agency isn’t saying but plenty of others—including three PNW senators—are making their unhappiness with the decision loud and clear.

The action puts public safety and rural communities “at extreme risk” according to a letter of protest.

Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) are the Bureau of Land Management’s public-facing employees that disseminate important information about federal lands, including updates on wildland fire activity. On May 18, the agency sent a “reassignment letter” to at least 13 such workers located in district offices in the Pacific Northwest, removing them from their roles as carriers of vital information.

On the heels of a warm and dry winter and ahead of what many experts have predicted will be an intense fire season, the timing is curious.

“They were not reassigned to communication positions either,” wrote Watch Duty wildfire reporter Michael Steinberg in a Threads.com post last week. “This is very concerning just before what could be a major wildfire season. PIOs are vital for communication between incident management teams [IMTs] and the public, and also offers a line of communication between news agencies and the IMTs.”

Based in California, Watch Duty is a national information platform that delivers real-time wildfire and flood alerts and on-the-ground intelligence from first responders to affected communities.

Three Democratic senators from the Pacific Northwest are fuming about the abrupt decision, which was reportedly made public by a whistle-blower.

Wash. Sen. Pat Murray joined Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon in demanding a reversal of the reassignments in a letter to BLM dated June 8.

“It is extremely concerning that there are now zero on-the-ground, district level personnel to communicate critical public safety information to our constituents, the media, and local officials,” the letter reads. “Your actions are putting public safety, rural communities, and critical infrastructure at extreme risk. This latest decision to reassign qualified wildfire response personnel is leaving our states even less prepared to respond when disaster strikes.”

It’s unclear if and when new personnel will be assigned to fill the vacancies. The letter argues that removing these employees from their positions “leaves communities across our states without the information and resources they need to stay safe during fires.”

“This may have life-threatening consequences,” the letter warns. It added that many of the reassigned individuals were qualified to support wildland firefighting operations.
Read full story at Columbia Insight.

Action puts public safety and rural communities “at extreme risk” according to a letter of protest Move along: Vital wildland information staff are no longer focused

06/17/2026

Ahead of what many experts are predicting will be an intense fire season, why in the blazes would the BLM abruptly remove more than a dozen Pacific Northwest wildland information officers from their jobs? The agency isn’t saying but plenty of others—including three PNW senators—are making their unhappiness with the decision loud and clear.

This action puts public safety and rural communities “at extreme risk” according to a letter of protest

Public Information Officers (PIOs) and Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) are the Bureau of Land Management’s public-facing employees that disseminate important information about federal lands, including updates on wildland fire activity. On May 18, the agency sent a “reassignment letter” to at least 13 such workers located in district offices in the Pacific Northwest, removing them from their roles as carriers of vital information.

On the heels of a warm and dry winter and ahead of what many experts have predicted will be an intense fire season, the timing is curious.

“They were not reassigned to communication positions either,” wrote Watch Duty wildfire reporter Michael Steinberg in a Threads.com post last week. “This is very concerning just before what could be a major wildfire season. PIOs are vital for communication between incident management teams [IMTs] and the public, and also offers a line of communication between news agencies and the IMTs.”

Based in California, Watch Duty is a national information platform that delivers real-time wildfire and flood alerts and on-the-ground intelligence from first responders to affected communities.

Three Democratic senators from the Pacific Northwest are fuming about the abrupt decision, which was reportedly made public by a whistle-blower.

Wash. Sen. Pat Murray joined Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon in demanding a reversal of the reassignments in a letter to BLM dated June 8.

“It is extremely concerning that there are now zero on-the-ground, district level personnel to communicate critical public safety information to our constituents, the media, and local officials,” the letter reads. “Your actions are putting public safety, rural communities, and critical infrastructure at extreme risk. This latest decision to reassign qualified wildfire response personnel is leaving our states even less prepared to respond when disaster strikes.”

It’s unclear if and when new personnel will be assigned to fill the vacancies. The letter argues that removing these employees from their positions “leaves communities across our states without the information and resources they need to stay safe during fires.”

“This may have life-threatening consequences,” the letter warns. It added that many of the reassigned individuals were qualified to support wildland firefighting operations.

Action puts public safety and rural communities “at extreme risk” according to a letter of protest Move along: Vital wildland information staff are no longer focused

06/17/2026

For ages, a small spider has gone undetected by science, scurrying through the caves and crevices of the Columbia River Gorge.

That changed in October 2021, when Greta Binford, a professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, made a unique discovery near Wahkeena Falls on the Oregon side of the Gorge.

“I rolled over a boulder and there was a spider underneath that I knew was very different,” said Binford.

What Binford found, and what she and colleagues would spend years confirming, was a unique species of spider found only in the Gorge.

The spider, Trogloraptor tulishpun, is only the second known species in the family Trogloraptoridae, which itself is a recent discovery.

The scientific classification of the Trogloraptoridae family dates to 2010, when a different, unique spider was found in a cave in southern Oregon.

The spider was so unusual it required not only a new species name but also a whole new family to correctly place it on the tree of life. (A family is a broad biological category; the Canidae family, for instance, includes dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes.)

Trogloraptor tulishpun is a unique species of spider
Hundreds of thousands of Trogloraptor tulishpun are estimated to be living in caves in the Columbia River Gorge. Photo: Dr. Marshal Hedin

The spider was named after the caver who discovered it.

To name the Columbia River Gorge member of the Trogloraptoridae family, Binford and her students who helped identify the spider reached out to local Tribes.

The name tulishpun comes from the Ichiskíi, or river dialect, of the Sahaptin language.

Yakama Nation elder Anthony Washines named the Columbia Gorge spider. The Sahaptin name he chose roughly translates as “Cave Predator Master of Domain.”

The name “Trogloraptor” is a combination of the Greek “troglo,” for “cave-dwelling,” and the Latin raptor, meaning “robber.”

On June 10, at the Herman Creek trailhead near Cascade Locks, Ore., the spider was formally given its Ichiskíi name in a ceremony attended by researchers and tribal members.

Read full story. Link in bio.

06/16/2026

A unique species of spider has been found that only lives in the Columbia River Gorge.

Researchers crawled through caves to confirm the existence of the arachnid with distinctive claw-like features.

For ages, a small spider has gone undetected by science, scurrying through the caves and crevices of the Columbia River Gorge.

That changed in October 2021, when Greta Binford, a professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, made a unique discovery near Wahkeena Falls on the Oregon side of the Gorge.

“I rolled over a boulder and there was a spider underneath that I knew was very different,” said Binford.

What Binford found, and what she and colleagues would spend years confirming, was a unique species of spider found only in the Gorge.

The spider, Trogloraptor tulishpun, is only the second known species in the family Trogloraptoridae, which itself is a recent discovery.

The scientific classification of the Trogloraptoridae family dates to 2010, when a different, unique spider was found in a cave in southern Oregon.

The spider was so unusual it required not only a new species name but also a whole new family to correctly place it on the tree of life. (A family is a broad biological category; the Canidae family, for instance, includes dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes.)

The spider was named after the caver who discovered it.

To name the Columbia River Gorge member of the Trogloraptoridae family, Binford and her students who helped identify the spider reached out to local Tribes.

The name tulishpun comes from the Ichiskíi, or river dialect, of the Sahaptin language.

Yakama Nation elder Anthony Washines named the Columbia Gorge spider. The Sahaptin name he chose roughly translates as “Cave Predator Master of Domain.”

The name “Trogloraptor” is a combination of the Greek “troglo,” for “cave-dwelling,” and the Latin raptor, meaning “robber.”

On June 10, at the Herman Creek trailhead near Cascade Locks, Ore., the spider was formally given its Ichiskíi name in a ceremony attended by researchers and tribal members.

Researchers crawled through caves to confirm the existence of the arachnid with distinctive claw-like features The Trogloraptor tulishpun is a unique species of spider found only in

06/12/2026

The unflappable mountain goat is unable to avoid the accumulating environmental pressures of the 21st century.

As conservation revenue dries up, tribal and state leaders are scrambling to reverse a worrisome trend.

As the weather warms, mountain goats move to graze what’s available in the rugged, high-altitude terrain of the North Cascades. In the next few weeks, they’ll have their kids. And those who survey these populations will highlight the need to manage human recreation and other impacts in hopes of their long-term survival.

Most of Washington’s mountain goats live in the Cascade Range from the Canadian border south to Mount Adams. Smaller populations live in the Blue Mountains of southeast Washington and Selkirk Mountains of northeast Washington.

The past century has seen a stark decline for goats, with statewide abundance once estimated at 8,500 to the most recent estimate by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2012 of 2,800. With rising habitat pressures, the current number is likely much lower.

Historically, tribal members harvested mountain goats for meat, clothing, tools and ceremonial items.

“Our mission in both wildlife and overall natural resource management is to manage from snowcaps to whitecaps, the entire watershed and everything in between,” said Emily Wirtz, Lummi Nation’s wildlife program manager.

The Lummi Indian Reservation is located in the northwestern corner of Washington.

In the Mount Baker Wilderness, which borders the North Cascades National Park on the east and the Canadian border on the north, Lummi Nation aerial surveys show the mountain goat population went from 345 in 2019 to about 63 today, according to a 2025 survey.

“Baker had the healthiest population that we knew of until recently,” said Wirtz, “so it’s been devastating.”

Go to ColumbiaInsight.org for full story.