About Us
Mission/Vision
OUR MISSION is to connect, protect, and restore the wild lands, waters, native species and habitats of the Greater Hells Canyon Region, ensuring a legacy of healthy ecosystems for future generations.
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OUR VISION is a region of wild lands and waters where both native species and human communities thrive.
Connect
Place to place: The Greater Hells Canyon Region is the hub of three great eco-regions—the Northern Rockies, the Great Basin, and the Pacific Northwest.
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People to place: A deep personal connection to this magnificent region inspires healthier living and fosters a sense of stewardship.
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People to people: Love for this special place brings people together and enriches all our lives.
protect
We defend intact and old growth forests, roadless areas, potential wilderness areas, native grasslands, other undeveloped lands, and wild waters on the public lands within the Greater Hells Canyon Region from threats to their integrity, including diminishment of native species and loss of function.
Restore
Our public lands have been damaged by decades of fire suppression, reckless logging, and irresponsible grazing. We have opportunities to work with the Forest Service and other stakeholder to restore these lands to a healthier, more natural version of themselves. Restoration can be as large-scale as designing a dry forest restoration thinning project, or as focused as weeding out invasive plants from a plot with an endangered endemic plant community.
who we are
Greater Hells Canyon Council (GHCC) is a member-based organization, made up of individuals who love the Greater Hells Canyon Region, which stretches from the Seven Devils in Idaho to the Elkhorn Mountains in Oregon, the Blue Mountains to the Wallowas, and everything in between. We want to see it protected for future generations of humans and wild species alike.
We were founded in 1967 (as Hells Canyon Preservation Council) to prevent the damming of the Snake River in Hells Canyon, and successfully advocated for the creation of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Since achieving those ambitious goals, we’ve expanded our focus to cover the entire Greater Hells Canyon region, protecting these amazing wildlands and the wildlife that call them home from ecologically irresponsible logging, grazing, mining, and more.
GHCC serves as an organizing force for those who believe in safeguarding the heritage and natural treasures of the region. We achieve our mission and vision through work by a dedicated staff, board of directors, advisory board, and volunteers who practice respect for all opinions.
what we do
Today, GHCC advocates for connected wildlife corridors and environmentally respectful public lands management practices throughout the mountains, valleys, and canyons of Greater Hells Canyon Region. Right now GHCC monitors and defends an area covering some 4 million acres! We are intensely involved on the projects, planning, and policies affecting these lands. We provide a voice for these amazing wildlands and wildlife that otherwise wouldn't be represented at the table of stakeholders.
Our programs connect, protect and restore intact and old growth forests and native grasslands, roadless areas and wilderness, key wildlife and native fish habitat, and clean air and waters. Through collaborative participation and advocacy, we support policies and practices that enhance ecologically based public lands management, responsible stewardship, and climate change resilience.
We want to ensure that natural systems are healthy and able to adapt to changing conditions and long-term impacts. Climate change is having an ever-bigger impact on our few remaining wildlands. The Greater Hells Canyon Region has an amazing diversity of elevations and habitat types, from the snowy alpine peaks of the Wallowas, to the hot and grassy depths of Hells Canyon (the deepest river canyon in North America). This diversity is key in helping species adapt to and survive climate change, allowing them to migrate up and down in elevation, or migrate to a habitat at a higher latitude. The Greater Hells Canyon Region connects large eco-regions such as the Basin and Range to the Rocky Mountains.
Wildlife connectivity is very important to us. Our Wild Connections Campaign focuses on connecting a last remaining unconnected strip of habitat between the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness in the Blue Mountains to Hells Canyon.
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Without intact ecosystems and wild places, we lose our access to clean drinking waters, clean air, carbon sequestration (key for mitigating climate change), wildlife, and quiet solitude and recreation. Healthy forests and waters are a legacy we owe to the generations to follow. Without a healthy environment, we have nothing. At GHCC, we believe people and the wild must thrive in harmony!
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These fact sheets include more about all of our work to connect, protect, and restore the Greater Hells Canyon Region.
(PDF, 1MB)
(PDF, 1MB)