The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures 
by renowned naturalist Robert Michael Pyle with photos by Judy VanderMaten
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In the Museum Store 2:00PM - 4:00PM
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​Robert Michael Pyle has lived along a tributary of the Lower Columbia River for 42 years. A biologist with a PhD from Yale University, he has been a full-time writer for most of that time. Pyle's 24 books include the Northwest classic Wintergreen, Where Bigfoot Walks, and Nature Matrix, a finalist for the 2021 PEN American Award in the Art of the Essay, as well as a flight of well-known volumes on butterflies. The latest of his four poetry collections is The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures, with photographer Judy Vandermaten. In this revolutionary portrait of our home, Pyle paints the estuarine river in story, discovery, and real physical details that will touch the minds and souls of everyone who hears the heartbeat of the Columbia.
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"I have always been drawn to the water perhaps because of spending summers at a lake in the Midwest as I grew up.  I have been living near the Columbia (on Puget Island and in Cathlamet now) for 33 years.  So now, watching the river has become an everyday part of my life.  I started exploring with a camera when I was about 10 years old.  I think that is when it started opening up the world to me.  I never knew for sure what I would discover and that made it fun." 

After retiring from teaching photography for 23 years at Lower Columbia College in Longview, WA,  Judy has exhibited her work in a number of local galleries over the years and currently has work at Tsuga Gallery in Cathlamet, WA and at the Broadway Gallery in Longview, WA.  

"Photography continues to push me to explore and it also makes me realize how precious our environment is."