The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, it flows northwest and south into the US state of Washington turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles long, its largest tributary is the Snake River, its drainage basin is the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific; the Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups; the river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for native peoples.

In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river. In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked facilitated trade. Since the late 19th century and private sectors have developed the river. To aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, dredging has opened and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for power generation, navigation and flood control; the 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total US hydroelectric generation. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river. Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, now the most contaminated nuclear site in the US.

These developments have altered river environments in the watershed through industrial pollution and barriers to fish migration. The Columbia begins its 1,243-mile journey in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia. Columbia Lake – 2,690 feet above sea level – and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the river's headwaters; the trench is a broad and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. For its first 200 miles, the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, a region known in British Columbia as the Columbia Valley northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes. Revelstoke, the Big Bend, the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia passes the cities of Castlegar, located at the Columbia's confluence with the Kootenay River, Trail, two major population centers of the West Kootenay region.

The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about 2 miles north of the US–Canada border. The Columbia enters eastern Washington flowing south and turning to the west at the Spokane River confluence, it marks the southern and eastern borders of the Colville Indian Reservation and the western border of the Spokane Indian Reservation. The river turns south after the Okanogan River confluence southeasterly near the confluence with the Wenatchee River in central Washington; this C‑shaped segment of the river is known as the "Big Bend". During the Missoula Floods 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, much of the floodwater took a more direct route south, forming the ancient river bed known as the Grand Coulee. After the floods, the river found its present course, the Grand Coulee was left dry; the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the mid-20th century impounded the river, forming Lake Roosevelt, from which water was pumped into the dry coulee, forming the reservoir of Banks Lake. The river flows past The Gorge Amphitheatre, a prominent concert venue in the Northwest through Priest Rapids Dam, through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Within the reservation is Hanford Reach, the only US stretch of the river, free-flowing, unimpeded by dams and not a tidal estuary. The Snake River and Yakima River join the Columbia in the Tri‑Cities population center; the Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the Washington–Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final 309 miles of its journey; the Deschutes River joins the Columbia near The Dalles. Between The Dalles and Portland, the river cuts through the Cascade Range, forming the dramatic Columbia River Gorge. No other rivers except for the Klamath and Pit River breach the Cascades—the other rivers that flow through the range originate in or near the mountains; the headwaters and upper course of the Pit River are on the Modoc Plateau. In contrast, the Columbia cuts through the range nearly a thousand miles from its source in the Rocky Mountains; the gorge is known f

The Nepton River is a tributary of Chibougamau Lake, flowing into the Municipality of Eeyou Istchee James Bay, in Jamésie, in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. The course of the river flows into McCorkill Township; the hydrographic slope of the Nepton River is accessible by a forest road serving the eastern side of Chibougamau Lake. This last road comes from Chibougamau, going north-east to the south-eastern part of Mistassini Lake; the surface of the Nepton River is frozen from early November to mid-May, safe ice movement is from mid-November to mid-April. The toponym "Nepton River" was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the Commission de toponymie du Québec, to say, the foundation of this commission

SPE Certification is a foodservice industry standard aimed at enhancing the nutritional quality of meals, without compromising the taste. SPE stands for “Sanitas per Escam” in Latin; the certification program’s core principles include increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as reducing intake of saturated fats, added sugars and salt. The SPE Certified seal, described by The New York Times as a “squiggly red insignia” is placed on a foodservice establishment’s menu next to a specific dish when the dish has met all the required culinary and nutritional criteria. SPE was developed as a nutritional and culinary philosophy in Rouge Tomate restaurant, Brussels, in 2001. In 2011 it was molded into a certification program aimed at encouraging other foodservice establishments to cook healthy, sustainably-sourced dishes, retaining focus on the taste of the food. SPE Certified