Honoring Our Rivers (HOR) is a project of the Willamette Partnership and is produced with the assistance of volunteers and the support of businesses, individuals and foundations.  It is the mission of HOR to engage the creative capacities of Oregon residents, particularly its youth, to promote and nurture respect for Oregon's fragile river systems.

 

“It is a tribute to the wisdom of children, and to the vision of a committee of adults who- in the middle of all the clamoring, competing voices- decided to ask the children to speak for the river...In the end, this is what Honoring Our River is all about- the reminder that we are, all of us who live in the Willamette River water- shed, people of the river.”

~ Kathleen Dean Moore, Educator and Author

Support Honoring Our Rivers HERE

 

Photo courtesy of Dinni Fabiani

---

Honoring Our Rivers 2015 Anthology

Our 2015 edition was published Earth Day, 2015. Thanks to everyone who participated this year!

 

 

---

Honoring Our Rivers Toolkits for Teachers Available Online!

 

Each year, we provide free resources to teachers that help them to bring rivers and watersheds into the classroom. This year, these toolkits and other educational resources are available online through our website! Also, this year is available second chance toolkits instantly on this website. Thank you to all the teachers who work to provide watershed education to students.

---

Success Story: Nature Writing Workshop for Teachers

One of our proudest accomplishments this year has been a nature writing workshop through Straub Environmental Center and made possible by the Gray Family Foundation.

Teachers learned how to integrate nature into the classroom, and their students submitted to Honoring Our Rivers as part of the deal! What a win-win!

Learn more at the Gray Family Foundation.

---

Honoring Our Rivers Welcomes Student Writing and Artwork

 

DEADLINE: JANUARY 31, 2016

Click HERE to download the 2016 submission form

 

Since 2000, Honoring Our Rivers has showcased Oregon student writing and artwork focused on rivers and watersheds. From poetry to prose and fiction, from illustration to photography, students from across the state submit their work to a juried-review process and finalists appear before the public in an annual anthology and at exhibits, events and readings hosted by Honoring Our Rivers. Oregon schools, teachers, academic advisors, community youth programs and homeschoolers are encouraged to promote student submissions before the project’s upcoming January 31 postmark deadline.

Last year, over 1,000 students submitted entries to the anthology, and we distributed 4,000 copies to Oregon schools and libraries! This year, Honoring Our Rivers is working to further increase the number and diversity of submissions from around the state. The project is open to all Oregon students from kindergarten to 12^th grade as well undergraduate students. All schools and students are recognized for their participation. The Honoring Our Rivers anthology is released to the public in April, in time for Earth Day, and a release celebration is held in May at Powell’s City of Books in Portland. Additional readings and exhibits will follow throughout the summer and fall.

“Honoring Our Rivers is a highly motivating learning project,” says Tom Webb, former project director for HOR. “Not only do students learn about Oregon’s legacy of rivers, they take part in the process of submitting to a publication for public consideration, a real-world writing and art practice. HOR also supports teachers’ efforts to meet state standards in the arts, English and earth sciences.” 

Student work in the Honoring Our Rivers’ anthology appears alongside submissions from Oregon’s leading writers. Previous anthologies have included work by Ursula Le Guin, Kathleen Dean Moore, Barry Lopez and former Oregon poet laureate Paulann Petersen. 

Honoring Our Rivers is a project of the Willamette Partnership, a 501©3 nonprofit organization. 2014-15 sponsors include:

Port of Portland

Gray Family Foundation

Eugene Water and Electric Board

Select Impressions

Wildwood Mahonia

Clean Water Services

NW Natural

Pioneer Trust Bank

Pringle Creek Community

J Rollins Art of Framing

Livestock Framing

Partners include SOLVE, Straub Environmental Learning Center, Caldera Arts, New Seasons Market, Powell's Books, the Human Access Project, and Willamette Speaks Oral History Project. 

---

Honoring Our Rivers 2014 Anthology

Our 2014 anthology arrived at libraries and schools across the State of Oregon in April.  To pick up a free copy for yourself, stop by our main office in Salem, or contact us.



 

---