For Thanksgiving, we invite you to take a journey with us along Hangman Creek, also known as Latah Creek. Within minutes of the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene corridor, its pastoral setting sooths and comforts our souls. As the seasons pass, wheat and other crops grow across the rolling hills, cattle meander about, and streams ripple through. It's a lifestyle and environment valued by all.

Within this bucolic setting, however, are water quality and land use challenges directly and in-directly effecting each of us. For farmers, the viability of staying in business; for city and suburban dwellers, increased sewer rates; for fish, the ability to migrate and spawn; for recreators and waterfront homeowners, coping with algae blooms. The list goes on ...

The challenges of Hangman Creek, dryly referred to as nonpoint source pollution, are playing out across the country. The debates are fierce as environmental, economic and life style imperatives try to co-exist. The language of advocates is often of winners and losers. A gain for one being a loss for another. But does it need to be that way?

This video was produced to show the beauty of the area, and look at solutions, cooperation and smart investments that can be made to meet the challenges before us. Bert Caldwell, retired Spokesman review editor and writer, narrates with the inquisitive eye of someone who is familiar and empathetic to the diversity and greatness of our community.

If there is a place nationally to cooperate and find solutions, why not here? A winning thought for Thanksgiving as we enjoy the bounty on our plates and the scenery beyond out doorstep.