Rivers of Oregon

“Rivers are the essence of Oregon,” writes award-winning author and photographer Tim Palmer. In over 140 brilliant photos and evocative, informative text, Rivers of Oregon captures the life, the beauty, and the magic of Oregon’s remarkable array of waterways.

The book’s engaging essays address the nature and ecology of flowing waters, the joy of travel on these lifelines of the planet, and the historic saga of Oregonians’ commitment to preserve, protect, and restore the best of their state for future generations. 

Rivers of Oregon captures the beauty and the intrinsic qualities of the state’s irresistible riverscapes like no other book has done. From the underwater view and from the refuge of riparian forests, from the seat of a canoe or raft and from distant mountain summits, readers will gain new perspectives on the extraordinary features that provide us with water, with life, and with scenes whose loss would leave us deeply impoverished.

Join this celebrated photographer, author, conservationist, and river guide on a journey of discovery that will change the way you think about flowing water and the alluring paths it makes across our land.

“In his small canoe, armed with a notebook and camera, Tim Palmer stalks riverine light, flow, and foliage the way a good predator stalks its prey. No one I know, my river-addicted self included, has given more constant witness to what rivers have to give not just to our fields, faucets, and power grids, but to our minds’ dazzled eye after a day riding the currents, our sleep as we steep in the language of night waters, and our hearts as life shows us again and again that the kingdom of rivers is both around us and within us."

—David James Duncan, author of The River Why, The Brothers K, and Sun House

“Tim Palmer’s gorgeous new Rivers of Oregon makes me want to live forever, so that I can float every riffle and eddy of every stream. His photographs are spectacular, his prose enticing, his love for the rivers intense. And the rivers themselves? Deep and beautiful and redeeming, the source of life itself.”

 —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising and Piano Tide

“Rivers of Oregon makes me want to grab a canoe and disappear on one of Tim Palmer's river adventures."

—John Kober, Executive Director, Pacific Rivers