Elise learned about the campaign to remove the four lower Snake River dams while earning her MFA at American University in Washington, DC. This was over two decades ago when this seemed like a remote possibility, now this large scale river restoration appears achievable. Since 2019, Richman has been visiting sites of environmental importance to these salmon’s future as a means of communicating their plight and epic journey through visual representations of place. Richman has exhibited her work regionally and nationally at commercial, university, and nonprofit spaces. She lives in Tacoma where she teaches at the University of Puget Sound and lives with her husband Michael, dog Hoko, and cat Skookumchuck.