Spill on the Little Salmon 1988

Jake Putnam PKG, Photographer Mark Bozman
Herbicides Make a Mess of Pristine Little Salmon

Riggins--Photographer Mark Bozman and I were called to the Little Salmon after a truck overturned in the river halfway between New Meadows and Riggins. We flew a Twin Engine Cherokee so Boz could get aerials before we headed into the spill. After 3 passes above the narrow canyon in rough air; we landed in McCall and Boz's stepfather found us a car to drive 35 miles to the spill. I remember it was 13-degrees below zero at the crash site and we didn't dress for extreme cold and were miserable all day.

Not only did we deliver our story for the 5pm newscast, but we scooped the competition for days with our spectacular video of the red herbicide flowing down the river. State DEQ did an amazing job containing and minimizing the spill. Although our package is solid and stands the test of time, my newsroom was shakey at best. I was green as grass at this point in my career and liveshots stressed me out. Boz was good at calming me down, stressing that shorter is better!