First time on the Oregon Wild website?

First time you’ve even heard of Oregon Wild?

Let’s change all that.

For starters, you need to know who we are.  Oregon Wild is a non-profit conservation group that works to keep Oregon a special place to live, work and play.  We are one of the oldest and most effective conservation organizations in the state, and our mission is to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and wild rivers as a legacy for future generations (and for the elk, salmon, osprey, river otters, snow geese, etc… that call them home).

Don’t believe us?  Ask one of our thousands of committed members about our accomplishments, including our successful 1996 campaign to protect the old-growth forests of Opal Creek, our 2001 victory in preserving Bull Run—the source of Portland’s drinking water—from logging and development, and our current work to safeguard unspoiled wildlands around Mount Hood and along the Rogue River from logging and development.

But enough about us (we could talk all day) here are a few ways you can get involved:

Listen to that little “wild” voice inside you that’s been telling you to get out of your cubicle or office, and get outside and join us as we explore Oregon’s wild places.

Sign up to receive our E-News and Alerts.  Be the first to find out about Oregon Wild’s free hikes and other outdoor trips, and find out about threats to Oregon’s wildlands, rivers, and wildlife.  That way, when an urgent action alert pops up in your email, you can go all Ghostbusters and hop in your car, flip on the sirens and drive to the Forest Service office and tell them what’s up.  (Please leave the proton pack at home, Egon tells us they aren’t exactly legal.)

Learn more about our campaigns to protect the Mt. Hood Wilderness, the Wild Rogue or The Klamath Basin.  Then go to a party and impress your friends with all your snazzy new knowledge about Oregon’s wildlands (but remember, while the spawning habits of oncorhynchus mykiss might be fascinating, they may not be appropriate dinner conversation.)

Of course, you can always become a member and enjoy all the benefits above as well as a quarterly newsletter filled with information about our work, updates on key conservation issues, and notices of upcoming hikes, canoe trips, camp outs, and other outdoor adventures.  Members also get access to  members-only events and presentations. Membership comes with the added benefit of knowing that somewhere in Oregon there is an old-growth tree still standing, or a wild salmon swimming through a healthy river, because you cared.