Mount Hood

Proposed National ParkOregon and Washington
Mount Hood under deep winter snow, with scattered pines on the slope below
All proposed National ParksMount Hood and the Columbia River GorgeCampaign underway
Location
Oregon/Washington
Current protection
Mount Hood National Forest, Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls
Status
Active citizen campaign
Tier
Tier 1 · National Park
Undiscovered America
Featured in the film and the book

Why should it be a National Park?

Oregon has a reputation for being outdoorsy and using green technology, but despite this association with environmental culture, Oregon only has one National Park, Crater Lake. Its neighbors California and Washington have nine and three, respectively. Even with its lack of National Parks, Oregon has an array of incredibly diverse landscapes that deserve to be better preserved. Below Mount Hood's snowy peak lie thick and lush pine forests. But in these tree-covered valleys and hillsides, a systematic logging operation is destroying vast swaths of forests at an unsustainable rate. There are approximately 3,000 miles of roads in Mt. Hood National Forest, and 73% of them are logging roads. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the USFS had an aggressive logging policy and old-growth forests were decimated.

The Columbia River Gorge below the mountain extends for 50 miles along the northern edge of Mt. Hood National Forest along the border of Oregon and Washington. This geologically and ecologically interconnected river valley has often been paired with campaigns to turn the Mount Hood region into a National Park, including four such attempts from the late 1800s into the 1980s.

The history of National Park Campaigns

Mount Hood was proposed for a National Park in the 1890s, the 1920s, and the 1930s (the campaign's own count), and the Columbia Gorge was considered for park status in the early 1980s before Congress chose a Forest Service national scenic area in 1986. The Forest Service has held the mountain since the 1893 Cascade Range Forest Reserve. Tom Kloster's Mount Hood National Park Campaign (2004–present) is the modern heir; Oregon's delegation has instead pursued wilderness (1964, 1984, 2009) and, recently, a recreation-area concept.

Distinct National Park attempts
4–5 (1890s; 1916; 1920s; 1930s; Gorge early 1980s) + the 2004–present campaign
Other designation attempts
forest reserve 1893; wilderness 1964/1984/2009; scenic area 1986; NRA concept 2022+

Sources

  • Public Values of the Mount Hood Area (Mount Hood Committee report, 1930)
  • Kathy Tucker/Oregon Encyclopedia entries
  • Carl Abbott et al., Planning a New West: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (1997)
  • Fred McNeil, Wy'east: The Mountain (1937)
  • mounthoodnationalpark.org
  • wyeastblog.org
  • National Park Service, Suggested Areas Resumes (1957)
  • Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
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  1. 1890s

    First National Park proposals for Mount Hood (the Mazamas, founded on the summit in 1894, among the boosters). No bill from the 1890s has been located.

  2. June 17, 1892

    Bull Run Timberland Reserve (Portland's water supply); September 28, 1893 — Cascade Range Forest Reserve (Cleveland), the "forest" fork in the road. (USFS/CCC history, ch. 14)

  3. 1916

    Sen. George Chamberlain (D-OR) bill for a Mount Hood National Park; its bill number has not been located.

  4. 1924

    Mount Hood National Forest created from the Oregon NF (1,092,583 acres by 1933).

  5. 1926–1929

    Cable-railway (tramway) permit fight; Secretary of Agriculture appoints a Mount Hood Committee including Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (Olmsted job #08234); its report, Public Values of the Mount Hood Area (S. Doc. 71-164), presented by Sen. Charles McNary on June 11, 1930, weighs park status and keeps the mountain in the Forest Service. (NPS Olmsted Archives)

  6. 1930s

    Further park proposals (campaign's count); Timberline Lodge (WPA, 1937) cements Forest Service stewardship.

  7. 1934

    A suggestion proposes a Columbia River Highway National Park.

  8. 1935

    The National Resources Board report suggests a Columbia Gorge National Park.

  9. October 2, 1939

    A draft proclamation calls for a 38,000-acre national monument on the Oregon side near Bonneville Dam; nothing comes of it.

  10. 1940

    Talk of moving the Forest Service into the Interior Department brings a new push for a Mount Hood National Park.

  11. 1941

    Rep. Homer Angell forwards a Portland Women's Forum park proposal prompted by logging; the Park Service recommends state or interstate action instead.

  12. 1964

    Mount Hood Wilderness (Wilderness Act); 1984 — Oregon Wilderness Act additions (Salmon-Huckleberry, Badger Creek, Columbia/Hatfield, Bull of the Woods).

  13. Early 1980s

    Columbia Gorge considered for National Park status; November 17, 1986 — Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act (P.L. 99-663; Sens. Hatfield/Packwood, Reps. Weaver/AuCoin) creates a USFS scenic area with a bi-state commission.

  14. 2004

    Mount Hood National Park Campaign (Tom Kloster; mounthoodnationalpark.org): "Mount Hood was proposed for National Park protection in the 1890s, 1920s and 1930s, and the Columbia Gorge was proposed for National Park status as recently as the early 1980s."

  15. March 30, 2009

    Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act (in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, P.L. 111-11) adds ~127,000 acres of wilderness and wild & scenic rivers.

  16. 2022–2025

    Sens. Wyden/Merkley and Rep. Blumenauer float a Mount Hood National Recreation Area framework; Rep. Maxine Dexter shaping a public-lands proposal (2025); no park bill. (Wy'east Blog; 2026 inventory)