RiverVoices, A Community Contest Sharing Stories about the Boise River and Payette River Watersheds, A Flowing Future Together
A river’s life symbolizes a cyclical journey of existence, defined by constant motion, resilience, and transformation. ~Dick Jordan
Magnify RiverVoices & The Ripple Effect
Launch: April 26, 2026 / Entry Deadline: Feb 2, 2027, Showing: Aug. 2027 TBD
Categories
Elementary students with a parent/guardian
Students in 7th-12th grades
Adults, 18 and older
Partner groups
Student Interns
Rules
(1) video stories must be 1-3 minutes, original, submitted into specific Facebook pages that will open on April 26th, 2026.
(2) Videos must focus, somehow, on these two rivers; heroes, geology, cultural interactions (from Native Americans, trappers, miners, loggers, ranchers, farmers, and businesses), seasonal changes, fishing, water sports like surfing, hidden gems, wildlife, irrigation, snow2U, water quality, birding, Greenbelt walking or running, photography, SwainSwim, river therapy, water renewal, biodiversity, artistic expressions, and it can be the voice of the river itself or organisms who can’t speak for themselves.
(3) The major theme in RiverVoices will be the passing of the torch from the ancestral silverback conservationists/water stewards to professional digital natives who are currently doing research, restoration, outreach and advocacy on behalf of these watersheds through the agencies, nonprofits, businesses and universities where they work or volunteer. LifeOutdoors’ student interns will be interviewing these heroes but you can too. Go to RiverVoices for more details.
It’s your story so be creative but NO AI, profanity, or inappropriate images. Dream on and surprise us!
For more information contact Dick Jordan at conserveconnect@gmail.com
All pictures were taken by Dick Jordan
The Boise and Payette River watersheds are the ancestral, cultural, and unceded territory of the Shoshone, Bannock, and the Northern Paiute people. Historically, these indigenous tribes used the Boise Valley as a winter encampment and gathering place for fishing, harvesting, and trade. While these tribes were forcibly removed to various reservations in the late 19th century, they maintain strong ancestral and legal connections to the watershed today. The Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people primarily used homelands further north, but they regularly traveled to the Boise River valley for annual trading fairs.
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River Voices & The Ripple Effect
A film competition showcasing the Boise and Payette Rivers through short video stories about how we get water to and from our homes, crops & businesses, how we work and play on, in and by it, and how young scientists are ‘making waves’ creating a ripple effect that motivates others to share their RiverVoices. LifeOutdoors and its partners are collecting stories with the best going into a short documentary to be entered in regional film festivals, so more people can understand, appreciate and safeguard our waters.
