We’ll start with a silent auction full of amazing art, beautiful jewelry, gift certificates for gear from Pro Photo Supply and Next Adventure, Clear Creek spirits, gear from Keen and Patagonia, a wine tasting and tour at WillaKenzie Estates, and dinner at Bamboo Sushi, among other things.  While you mingle with friends, enjoy live music by Squirrel Butter and nosh on local and organic food prepared by Simpatica.  Most of the produce for the meal was generously donated by our friends on Grand Island.

Our live auction features an all-star line up of stunning nature photographs by artists including Ansel Adams, National Geographic photographer Joe Riis and renowned Northwest artists Carl Johnson, Larry Olson, Mark Gamba, David Jensen, Darryl Lloyd, Paul Souders, Michael Durham, and Bill Stallings.  We’ll also auction off a rafting trip on the Sandy River through the former Marmot Dam site, a weekend getaway to the coast or the Deschutes, and an instant wine cellar including fantastic Oregon wines from Adelsheim, Natalie’s Estate, Sineann, Medici, Chelalem, and Arbor Brooks.  You could take your pick of any of our live auction items if you’re the winner of our Golden Ticket raffle.  A limited number of tickets will be available, giving you a great chance to win your pick of any item before the live auction starts!

After the live auction we’ll open up the mic for a Crag roast.  This is your chance to tell stories or jokes (embarrassing or otherwise) about how and why you support our team and our work.  There will also be a dance party later in the evening, so stick around and get down with Crag!

Many of our donors and sponsors will be in attendance on Saturday, and I’m very excited to get to share the evening with so many of Crag’s amazing supporters.  Don’t miss out on a chance to take home some great artwork for yourself or as gifts for friends and loved ones, and support Crag while you’re at it.

What: Crag’s 10th Anniversary Party and Wildshots Auction

Where: Holocene, SE 10th and Morrison

When: Saturday, November 5, starting at 5 pm

Get your tickets online today!  If you can’t join us for the event but would still like to show your support and help keep us going for another 10 years, please make a donation.

Beverly May talks strategy with Protect Grand Island organizers

What sets Crag apart from most other environmental law centers is that a big part of our work involves community outreach and organizing.  This winter and spring, I was excited to be able to connect many of our clients and supporters with Beverly May, a friend of mine from Kentucky who has become a household name for many people who are faced with battles to save the places they love from the exploits of extractive industries.  The story of Beverly’s struggle to save her home from mountain-top removal is portrayed in the documentary film, Deep Down.

Crag partnered with Columbia Riverkeeper to show the film in Portland this winter and then in Astoria and Kelso, WA this March.  Beverly May came out to visit with Crag clients and attend the March screenings of Deep Down.   While she was here, we visited with Grand Island farmers and neighbors, coastal residents who have been fighting LNG and citizens concerned about the coal export facility proposed in Longview.  We sat around kitchen tables and talked about our shared stories and the lessons learned from standing up to the environmentally destructive practices of big industries. We also celebrated our time together with a big square dance.

Beverly May and LNG opponents Cheryl Johnson, Ted Messing and Carolyn Newman swap battle stories.

On a personal level, it was really powerful for me to connect the struggles that my friends and neighbors have been dealing with back in Appalachia with those of my Pacific Northwest friends and neighbors.  There is a contagious sense of empowerment and inspiration that happens when people come together to share their battle stories and marvel at the impact that a handful of neighbors can truly have on issues that seem too big to tackle. After Beverly’s visit, Kris Bledsoe from Yamhill County commented, “How can we extract a little bit of the essence of Bev and bottle it for local use?”  Kris and her neighbors are currently challenging a proposed gravel mine on Grand Island.  After spending time with Kris and her neighbors and with the folks who banded together to halt the Bradwood Landing LNG facility, I’d say that our region has a wealth of the essence many of us connect with Beverly May.

That essence is a form of renewable energy; is citizen power, and it is both local and sustainable.  It lives in each and every person who is standing up to save the communities and wild places that you love, and it is much more potent, powerful and sustainable than any fossil fuel could ever be.

Wednesday, May 4 at 9pm at Mt. Tabor Theatre

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR

Tickets: $12 in Advance, $15 at the Door

VIP Tickets: $50 – includes VIP concert seating and dinner with Pato Banton, starting at 6:45pm at Tarboush Lebanese Bistro and Bar, 3257 SE Hawthorne Blvd

*Advance tickets available at the Crag Law Center, Tickets West, or Mt. Tabor Theatre. VIP tickets are only available from Crag.

What better way to kick start Crag’s 10th Anniversary celebrations than grooving to world class reggae? Pato Banton & The Now Generation Band and Portland’s own Nuborn Tribe will be performing a benefit show for Crag on Wednesday May 4th at the Mt. Tabor Theatre.  Roots Garden Supply is the presenting sponsor, and Aaron Matusick is a supporting sponsor. A native of Birmingham, England, Pato Banton first came to public attention in the early 1980s when he worked with The Beat. A grammy nominated reggae artist, Banton has recorded with the likes of Sting, UB40, English Beat, and General Public and performed at the Northwest World Reggae Festival. Crag is honored that he is playing a benefit to support our work. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. We are offering a limited number of VIP package tickets for $50.  In addition to concert admission, the VIP package includes dinner and a reception with Pato Banton and The Now Generation before the show.  Email suzanne@crag.org or call 503-525-2724 to reserve your advance tickets.

The evening will feature the Portland Premiere of  Trout on the Wind, a locally produced documentary about the removal of the Hemlock Dam and restoration of Trout Creek in Washington.  Trout Creek is a tributary of the Wind River in the Columbia River Gorge.  In 2009, the Forest Service, local contractors and local conservation groups joined forces to remove the dam and restore over 20 miles of prime habitat for Columbia River Steelhead.

This film provides a first hand look at how this successful restoration project was accomplished from start to finish.

We also have three additional selections from the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, including John Waller’s Ascending the Giants, the Good Life Parable: An MBA Meets a Fisherman, a short called SalmonsKin by Thomas Dunklin and a local film by Sam Drevo about a rafting and kayaking trip down the Deschutes with a group of Blinded American Veterans.

Where: Hollywood Theater (4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland).

When: Doors open at 6:30 pm, films start at 7:00 pm.  

Price: Tickets are $7 and are available at the door.

Proceeds will benefit Crag and Gifford Pinchot Task Force.  We look forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE: Representatives from Mt. Hood Meadows will be on hand during intermission to discuss avalanche control, backcountry access and uphill travel within the ski area.  Many people have contacted us over the past year with questions on these issues, so this is your opportunity to hear from Meadows about their management of the ski area and to let them know what you think.

On February 5, 2009, the Crag Law Center will be sponsoring a movie night at the Hollywood Theater to benefit the Madrone Wall Preservation Committee.  Come out and join other folks from the climbing and outdoor recreation community to support local activists working to preserve one of the Portland area’s premiere climbing spots.  Get your tickets here.

The event features the Portland Premiere of “Via Bearzi.”  Colorado climber Michael Anthony Bearzi is the man who invented the “M-system” rating for mixed climbing routes.  A pioneer of climbing techniques, he was notorious for scouting the great new lines on big mountain faces.  One climb that Mike would always return to was the NW Face of Devils Thumb in Alaska, which to this day has yet to see an ascent. His passion for the perfect alpine route up a big face led him to Gyachung Kang in Tibet, to the elusive northeast face.  His expedition in 2002 was his last climb and also his first attempt at filmmaking.

When Mike did not return from Tibet, two Portland filmmakers, Jeff Alzner and Brook Kirklin, finished Mike’s film.  As an introduction to the Gyachung Kang trip, they recount his numerous attempts on Devils Thumb with Dieter Klose and his first free ascent of Cerro Torre in Patagonia with Eric Winkelman.  The result is a tribute to pure mountaineering. Mike’s film was an official selection at more than a dozen film festivals including Mountainfilm in Telluride, Kendal Mountain Film Festival in England, Taos Mountain Film Festival and Edinburg Mountain Film Festival.

“On Sight” will also be screened.  It is a gripping adventure into the world of cutting edge rock and ice climbing, documenting a ground up, no practice approach resulting in raw and compelling footage.  An all-star cast on extraordinary routes, produced by multi-award winning filmmaker Alastair Lee.  Winner Grand Prize and Best Climbing film awards, Kendal Mountain Film Festival.