Winter Fishtrap Gathering
February 25-27, 2011
Wallowa Lake, Oregon
"Getting Small"
Winter Fishtrap 2010 -- "Learning from Women" -- was a sold-out success, with lively presentations and discussions led by our guests Ursula LeGuin, Molly Gloss and Tony Vogt. Eighty people joined them here at the historic Wallowa Lake Lodge to consider this important topic.
Please watch for more details about the upcoming 2011 Winter Fishtrap. Our theme "Getting Small" suggests consideration of such topics as: the "buy local" and "slow food" movements; the return to simpler, more self-reliant lifestyles; sustaining our beautiful planet through the personal choices we make; and also the power of small stories, short poems, etc. We are working on our faculty line-up now. Stay tuned!
Winter Fishtrap began in 1992, just four years after the Summer Fishtrap inaugural. It was launched in response to feedback from farmers, ranchers, foresters, firefighters, natural resource workers, and others who were often too busy in July to make it to Summer Fishtrap. The first Winter Fishtrap themes—nature writing, grazing, water, and fire—were chosen especially with these friends in mind.
Then one year a board member suggested we take on some other public policy issue. “Like what?” we asked. “How about violence,” she said, and that set us off on a broad range of public policy issues that engage western writers and policy makers.
Over the years, Winter Fishtrap has also addressed “Loss,” “New Wealth in the Old West,” “Downwind, Downriver,” and many other themes. Longtime Fishtrap Advisor Ursula LeGuin contributed her wisdom to “Learning From Women,” and MacArthur Fellow, Gary Nabhan, led the discussion of “Eating Locally, Thinking Globally.” Both of them are writers, but we’ve also mixed county commissioners and public policy advocates who are not writers into the discussion when it seemed right. The thrust of Winter Fishtrap is the thinking and writing it inspires.
That’s the formula. A theme of interest to citizens and writers. Three or four people who have written and acted in the public arena about the theme. Seventy-five writers, agency and non-profit activists, a few policy wonks, local community members, and a weekend in February at the lovely, historic Wallow Lake Lodge. Winter Fishtrap is traditionally held the last weekend of February.
Wallowa Lake Lodge
We meet in the old hotel’s great room, and eat in the dining room. Some bedrooms offer a shared bathroom, and are priced accordingly; some look out on Wallowa Lake, while others face south and catch winter sun. Each room is individual; we offer them largest to smallest, more to less elegant, on a first come, first served basis. They are all on the second and third floors, but everything else at the Lodge is wheelchair accessible. We will help out-of-towners who need wheelchair access find suitable lodging. Meals are required–communal eating is a part of the event. There are pictures on our web site–www.fishtrap.org–and more photos and information at www.wallowalakelodge.com.
For a list of past Winter Fishtrap themes, click here.