Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

In 1975, Congress created the 652,488-acre Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. It is managed by the USDA Forest Service under the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and provides exceptional recreational opportunities while conserving the area's scenic, wilderness, cultural, and scientific values. Management includes protecting its free-flowing rivers, outstanding plant and wildlife habitats, and rich archeological and historical sites, while allowing limited grazing, logging, and mining only when compatible with those objectives. About 70 miles of the Snake River, flowing freely from Hells Canyon Dam to the Washington state line, is a National Wild and Scenic River, winding between towering rock walls and shifting from tranquil to treacherous. The river can be experienced by raft, drift boat, or jet boat, and can also be viewed from Hells Canyon Dam, Pittsburg Landing, or Dug Bar. Much of the recreation area is designated wilderness, where natural processes shape the environment with little human interference and mechanized travel is not permitted. In this landscape associated with the Nez Perce and Shoshone Indians, the land is presented as looking much the same today as it did 10,000 years ago.

Oregon · United States