James Patrick “Pat” Ford was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1948. In 1951, he moved with his family to Idaho Falls, Idaho. He studied English at Columbia College in New York, New York, but left school in 1969. In 1977, he joined the board of directors of the Idaho Conservation League (ICL), and in 1979, he became its executive director. From 1984 to 1987, he was a freelance writer for High Country News, and then was its editor from 1990 to 1991, when he co-founded the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. From 1998 to 2014, he served as the coalition's executive director. He continued to work as a freelance writer for publications including the Washington State Standard and the Idaho Capital Sun.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Ford in his interview; "Announcing a leadership change for SOS," by Tom Stuart, August 30, 2013, Save Our Wild Salmon website (accessed November 2025), https://www.wildsalmon.org/news-hold/announcing-a-leadership-transition-for-sos.html; author page for Pat Ford, undated, Idaho Capital Sun website (accessed November 2025), https://idahocapitalsun.com/author/patford/

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025), https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.