Eastern Oregon Writers-in-Residence

Grant County

Grant County encompasses an area of approximately 4,500 square miles, over 63% of which is federally controlled, primarily by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Grant County contains most of the Malheur National Forest and sections of the Wallowa–Whitman, Umatilla and Ochoco National Forests, and has more than 150,000 acres of federally-designated Wilderness Areas. Grant County also contains the headwaters of the John Day River, which has more miles of Wild and Scenic River designation than any other river in the United States.

2011 is Grant County's first year hosting a writer-in-residence as part of Fishtrap's EOWIR program. In January, the community welcomed Brad Tyer, a journalist from Montana, as their first writer-in-residence. Brad will be working with students in the Long Creek and Monument Schools until mid-February, when he will move to complete his residency in Prairie City.

Brad's background includes a 2009-2010 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Prior to that, Brad served as Managing Editor of the Austin Texas Observer newspaper and as Editor at the Missoula Independent in Montana. He is currently at work on a nonfiction book melding environmental history and memoir, titled Opportunity, Montana, about the destruction and restoration of western Montana’s Clark Fork River, the largest EPA-designated Superfund site in the United States.

Brad will be working with Grant County communities on oral history projects, some of them relating to the rich mining history of the area. In addition to his work in the schools, he will be offering several adult workshops for the community during his residency. An outdoor enthusiast with a passion for beef jerky and river-running, Tyer said he’s looking forward to meeting the people of Grant County and exploring its many recreational opportunities.
Follow Brad on his blog.

The Grant County writer-in-residence project is largely funded through generous grants from the Oregon Community Foundation, the Oregon Cultural Trust, and the 2010 No Child Left Behind: Oregon University/School Partnership Program, and through direct support from Fishtrap.

In-kind and/or staff support provided by the Juniper Arts Council, Virginia Moore, Monument Community Center, the Long Creek Booster Club, Grant County ESD and the county’s five school districts.