Mountainous landscape with trees reflecting in a lake at dusk
Micah Lundstedt

Our Work

Protecting the Wild

Wild areas are part of Oregon’s heritage. We make sure they’re part of Oregon’s future.

Only 4% of Oregon is federally designated as Wilderness, far less than neighboring states. Five million precious acres of forested, roadless areas sit unprotected from development.
Soda Creek by Seth Maddox
Seth Maddox
River running through rocky bank
Jim Davis

From lowland old-growth forests to alpine meadows, seeping headwaters to roaring rivers, wild places must have the freedom to find their own path.

Though humans have lived on and with Oregon’s landscapes for thousands of years, modern development through dams, roads, logging, and mining have irrevocably altered many of these landscapes.

Many of Oregon’s most iconic landscapes and rivers—Mount Hood, the Wild Rogue River, and others—still need Congress to grant them stronger safeguards.

Oregon Wild has won Wilderness and Wild & Scenic River designations for the Columbia River Gorge, parts of Mount Hood, the Three Sisters Wilderness, Opal Creek, the North Fork John Day, Steens Mountain, and more.

Standing together, we’ll do it again.

Soda Creek by Seth Maddox
Seth Maddox

Key Staff

  • Erik FernandezWilderness Program Coordinator
  • Chandra LeGueSenior Conservation Advocate
  • Rob Klavins
NortheastOregon Field Coordinator
  • Sami GodloveCentral Oregon Field Associate
  • JT FlowersPublic Lands Coordinator

Join Our
Newsletter.

Staying informed is the first step to becoming a public lands and native wildlife advocate.

Skip to content