Hells Canyon

Proposed National ParkOregon and Idaho
Wild roses blooming below the basalt benches and grassy slopes of Hells Canyon
All proposed National ParksHells CanyonNo active campaign
Location
Oregon/Idaho
Current protection
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Snake River, Brownlee/Oxbow dams & reservoirs
Status
No active campaign
Tier
Tier 1 · National Park
Undiscovered America
Featured in the film and the book

Why should it be a National Park?

Many of America's most well-known natural attributes are famous because they had the tallest trees, largest thermal features, deepest lake, most petrified wood, biggest waterfalls, or several other incredible preeminent features. Therefore, you may assume that the Grand Canyon is the deepest canyon in the United States. However, that title belongs to the often ignored Hells Canyon on the border of Oregon and Idaho. The developed sections of the canyon consist mostly of long, steep, and difficult dirt roads. A high-clearance vehicle is recommended. Most of these roads lead to spectacular viewpoints that reward those willing to endure the journey. Unfortunately, many of the best views require at least half a day or overnight trips to experience.

This isolation is exactly why this site needs greater preservation. While it's easy to assume this distance from large populations would be good for its continued protection, the extraction of natural resources on public lands has been significantly expanding in recent years. The only chance a natural setting of this scale has to remain preserved into the future is to declare it off limits to industrial exploitation. When Yellowstone was preserved, there were also no large populations calling the neighboring areas home, but the wealth of minerals, natural gases, and animals would make it a site ripe for exploitation in an America without National Parks. A fate of exploitation and alteration is likely what lies ahead without the creation of a Hells Canyon National Park.

The history of National Park Campaigns

Hells Canyon has drawn national-park attention four times: an NPS look in 1940 that Wallowa County beat back; the 1970–73 legislative war between park-style "National Forest Parklands" bills (Hatfield, Ullman) and the recreation-area bill that won in 1975; a 1992 conservation-coalition plan for a 1.5-million-acre "Hells Canyon National Park complex" with two National Parks; and a 2003 Hells Canyon Preservation Council proposal to transfer the area to the Park Service as a national preserve — explicitly not a park, to keep hunting.

Distinct National Park attempts
4 (1940 NPS interest; 1970–73 parklands bills; 1988 Park Service system plan; 1990–92 local push and two-park complex proposal). Preserve/other: 2003 preserve project; 1975 NRA + wilderness + W&S

Sources

  • P.L. 94-199 (89 Stat. 1117)
  • 1973 House hearings (CHRG-93hhrg44629)
  • Lewiston Tribune archive (1992)
  • HCPC/Greater Hells Canyon Council records
  • Brooks, Restoring the Shining Waters / Hells Canyon dam-fight histories
  • High Country News, "Hells Canyon: Should it be a park?" (1990)
  • Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
Know of a campaign? Tell us
  1. 1940

    NPS eyes a National Park; Wallowa County opposes ("runs head on, like a locomotive collision, into the economics of Wallowa County").

  2. 1955–1975

    Dam wars: Idaho Power's three-dam complex (Brownlee 1958, Oxbow 1961, Hells Canyon 1967); Mountain Sheep and Pleasant Valley dams proposed 1955; the Supreme Court's Udall v. FPC (1967) and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968) stall them. (Wikipedia; Hells Canyon)

  3. 1970–1973

    competing bills. Sen. Mark Hatfield's S. 657 and Rep. Al Ullman's H.R. 2624 ("National Forest Parklands") vs. the NRA bill S. 2233 (Church, Hatfield, Packwood, McClure); House hearings 1973 (govinfo CHRG-93hhrg44629).

  4. December 31, 1975

    P.L. 94-199 (S. 322) establishes the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (652,488 acres), the Hells Canyon Wilderness (~215,000 acres), and Wild & Scenic status for the Snake from Hells Canyon Dam to Pittsburg Landing (wild, 31.5 mi) and downstream (scenic, 36 mi); deauthorizes Asotin Dam. House vote 342–53. (89 Stat. 1117; S. Rept. 105-78)

  5. 1988

    A Park Service system plan recommends converting Hells Canyon to a National Park; jet boaters oppose it.

  6. 1990

    A group of locals pushes for a Hells Canyon National Park & Preserve.

  7. February 1992

    "HELLS CANYON NATIONAL PARK COMPLEX." The Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Oregon Natural Resources Council, and NPCA unveil (press conferences in Lewiston, Portland, and Washington, D.C.) a 1.5-million-acre tri-state complex: two National Parks (High Wallowas and Hells Canyon), a national preserve, and a redrawn NRA from Brownlee Dam ~100 miles north to the Grande Ronde; it would transfer the NRA and Eagle Cap Wilderness to the NPS, add ~300,000 protected acres, and ban logging and mining in the NRA. Retired NPS official Paul Fritz (Boise) led the pitch; the groups asked Congress to fund an NPS study. (Lewiston Tribune, Bill Loftus, Feb. 1992). Congress never funded a Park Service study; the University of Idaho's Policy Analysis Group published “A National Park in Idaho?” in June 1992.

  8. 1997

    S. 360 (jet-boat access) shows the NRA's management fights continuing. (S. Rept. 105-78)

  9. August 2003

    "Hells Canyon–Chief Joseph National Preserve Project." HCPC (executive director Bailey) announces a plan to transfer the NRA and Eagle Cap to the NPS as a preserve, not a park — "Hunting, which is banned in National Parks, would be allowed in a preserve" — with a two-year public campaign before seeking a bill; Wallowa County Commissioner Ben Boswell and Wallowa-Whitman NF officials express surprise. (La Grande Observer/Baker City Herald, Aug. 28, 2003)

  10. 2020s

    Greater Hells Canyon Council (HCPC's successor) focuses on restoration; no park bill.