It’s art that connects four rivers and an ocean; that connects local tribes, governments and residents. It connects history with environment; a tumultuous past with an uncertain future.

The seven-site, 10-year, $30 million Confluence Project is a series of mammoth artworks along the Columbia River and tributaries – and sculptor/architect Maya Lin is the artist. Three sites have been completed, including the two closest to Tacoma, and there are four more to go.

The project is, at its core, art-based reconciliation. It began as three separate projects to commemorate the Lewis and Clark journey of 1805-1806: A vision of the Umatilla Confederated Tribes to create art in their homeland, an idea to commemorate the Lewis and Clark story at the Pacific coast, and a monetary gift for Lewis and Clark public art in Vancouver.

Coincidentally, organizers of all three projects chose Lin as their artist.

Jane Jacobsen, then executive director of the George C. Marshall program in Vancouver, Wash., heard of the other two projects and, along with fellow Vancouverite David DiCesare developed the idea of a multi-sited project along the Columbia River Basin. Jacobsen sent a proposal to Lin, who rose to fame in 1982 with her Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“We thought it should focus on telling the 10,000-year story of the people, the river and its future,” says Jacobsen, now executive director of the project.

One year and many meetings later, Lin was on board. What swung her was the appeal by the Umatilla, Nez Perce and Chinook tribes to create a tribute to their homelands.

“When I realized who was doing the asking, I couldn’t say no,” Lin says, in an explanatory video at www.confluenceproject.org.

Yet the project is bigger than just the tribes. It involves national and state parks where the art is situated. It includes local governments, citizen groups, the Army Corps of Engineers, local chambers of commerce and the Lewis and Clark Society. The $30 million budget unites public funds and hundreds of sponsors.

“Our goal is to go to a different future,” says Lin, in a interview with The News Tribune. “To restore land that we have changed. To use Lewis and Clark’s words to imagine what it was like 200 years ago, and imagine 200 years ahead.”

In each of the seven sites, that goal takes on different forms. At Cape Disappointment, where the Columbia meets the sea, Lin’s artwork (completed in 2005) involved reducing a parking lot by 60 percent, creating wetland to filter pollution, and building pathways inscribed with Lewis and Clark diary entries about the place. The pathways end in a circle of reclaimed drift logs and a viewpoint overlooking a traditional basalt fish-cleaning table. Inscribed in the table is a Chinook creation legend.

At the Sandy River Delta, completed in August, Lin designed an elliptical bird blind. The slats, made of durable but invasive black locust wood as part of a clearing effort, are inscribed with birds and animals noted by the Corps of Discovery, plus disturbing indications of just how many of them are now endangered or threatened.

At the Vancouver site, also finished in August, the art takes the shape of an enormous circular land bridge connecting the historic Fort Vancouver to the Columbia River.

Designed by Seattle architect Johnpaul Jones, Lin’s part in this was small, but included texts and photos of historic use, commissioning local indigenous artists, such as Lillian Pitt, and installing native plantings. She also designed two circular sitting places inscribed with the names of tribes that once used the area as a trading and meeting place.

Other sites, to be completed within the next two years, are different again. Over the dammed Celilo Falls, Lin plans a cantilevered ramp, a place to “hear the silence of what was lost,” an architectural memorial. In Chief Timothy Park will be an earthwork most like the large-scale sculptures Lin is famous for: a stone-rimmed earth amphitheater.

They’re big plans, with big goals. Are they effective so far?

Chief Cliff Snider, of the Chinook Tribe near Vancouver, was pleased with the completed land bridge, a $12.7 million project funded largely from federal pedestrian transportation grants.

“We get a chance to see Indian culture up there,” he says. “And the circle is a Chinook belief – everything we do affects someone or something in this world.”

Yet from the busy road beneath (the bridge crosses Highway 14), the bridge looks exactly like any of the other overhead crossings. On the day of dedication, joggers along the waterfront seemed unaware of the monumental artwork rising nearby. It’s not clear exactly who will use this bridge, though Lin intended it to “give back the tribes their access to the river.”

But as plantings mature, and with a possible waterfront land reclamation project by Lin in the works, the bridge may look different in a few years.

At Sandy River, the site is still messy, the shorn blackberry threatening to swallow up the trail. The river is some 50 yards away and 20 feet down from Lin’s bird blind. After the National Forest Service refloods the area, though, things may be more as Lin envisioned – a place to be attentive to the environment.

And Lin is less about stunning artworks than overall message.

“I’m a restorer: If I was successful, you’ll barely know I was there,” she says. “The art is about helping people get in touch with the land. Maybe if you realize what’s gone, you think more about the future.”

The Confluence Project, says Jacobsen, is both art and monument: “Part of Maya’s genius is to point to the future, to inspire, to open the mind’s door for … thoughts and conclusions. In her words: ‘I like to create a place for people to think, without dictating what to think.’ She is a master at that.”

Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568

The Confluence Project is a project of art monuments spanning 10 years and 450 miles of the Columbia and Snake rivers (www.confluenceproject.org). Here’s the quick guide to each site, and what else to do when you get there.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT STATE PARK

Location: Mouth of the Columbia River, west of Ilwaco, off Highway 101.

Art: Restored oceanfront dunes, walkways and viewing platform inscribed with text, circle of drift-log columns, basalt fish-cleaning table inscribed with Chinook legend.

Status: Completed. The park is open to visitors 6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in winter; 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. in summer, 360-902-8844, www.parks.wa.gov, search “park information” for Cape Disappointment.

While you’re there: On the Washington side, you can hike the trails in Cape Disappoinment State Park, follow Lewis and Clark’s path along the Discovery Trail linking Long Beach, Seaview and Ilwaco, see the World Kite Museum in Long Beach or hear classical music at the Long Beach Water Music Festival on Friday and Saturday (1-800-452-7829, www.visitlongbeach.com). On the Oregon side, there’s history and waterfront street cars in Astoria (1-800-875-6807), bumper cars and seals in Seaside (503-738-3097, www.seasidedowntown.com), and arts and tidal sea life in Cannon Beach, where the Stormy Weather Arts Festival happens Nov. 7-9 (503-436-2623, www.el.com/to/cannonbeach).

RIDGEFIELD

Location: National Wildlife Refuge, near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, Ridgefield.

Art: A green-built environmental research center.

Status: Still in the planning stage.

While you’re there: Check out the refuge, 5,150 acres of marshes, woodlands and grasslands where migrating fowl rest on the Pacific Flyway route, via hiking or car routes. Look out for larger mammals like river otters and beavers as well. Fishing allowed in certain areas, hunting season is under way. $3 entry. Portland is 20 miles upriver. 360-887-4106, www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges.

VANCOUVER NATIONAL HISTORIC RESERVE

Location: The confluence of Columbia River and Klickitat trail, Vancouver, Wash.

Art: A landbridge, with local sculpture, historic texts and photos and native plantings, connecting the reserve with the waterfront.

Status: Completed. The reserve is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in winter; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in summer. The landbridge is open all the time.

While you’re there: Immerse yourself in the trading and military history at Fort Vancouver, $3 entry. Walk along the waterfront toward downtown and check out the overhead murals along the railway line. The Farmer’s Market in Vancouver offers local produce and crafts from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 26, at Sixth and Esther streets downtown. 604-682-2222, www.tourismvancouver.com.

SANDY RIVER DELTA

Location: Confluence of Columbia and Sandy rivers, Troutdale, Ore. (Exit 18 off Interstate 84, turn right under the freeway to parking lot. Involves two-mile return flat hike).

Art: Bird blind of locally reclaimed wood, inscribed with names of local wildlife.

Status: Completed. Open all the time.

While you’re there: The delta area has many hiking trails, as does the nearby Sandy River Recreation Area. From there, continue up I-84 and explore the Columbia River Gorge, or go outlet shopping or fishing in Troutdale, www.el.com/to/troutdale.

CELILO PARK

Location: Celilo Park, near The Dalles, Ore., (Exit 97 off I-84).

Art: Wooden ramp cantilevered over a dam (a former falls) and inscribed with the history of the falls.

Status: To be finished in 2010.

While you’re there: The park has interpretive signage where Lewis and Clark navigated the falls. Nearby in The Dalles, there’s the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, the Fort Dalles Museum, the Old St. Peters Landmark, The Dalles Murals and more, 1-800-255-3385, www.thedalleschamber.com.

SACAJAWEA STATE PARK

Location: The confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers, southeast of Pasco, Wash., off Highway 12.

Art: Story circles, a boat dock with inscribed text and restored land.

Status: To be finished in May 2009.

While you’re there: The state park offers an interpretive center, boating, fishing, swimming and waterskiing in season, and a recreated traditional Wanapum native village. Open 6:30 a.m.-dusk, closed Oct. 29-March 28, 509-545-2361, www.parks.wa.gov, search “park information” for Sacajawea. Pasco, in the Tri-Cities region, has good wineries, www.visittri-cities.com.

CHIEF TIMOTHY PARK

Location: Near the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers, west of Clarkston, off Highway 12.

Art: Stone-rimmed earthwork amphitheater “Listening Circle.”

Status: To be finished in 2009.

While you’re there: Learn about Nez Perce history at the Alpowai Interpretive Center, boat or raft along the Snake River, and tour nearby Hell’s Canyon gorge, www.clarkstonchamber.org.