ConservationNEXT

Gifford Pinchot Task Force

Website
http://www.gptaskforce.org
Contact Name
Lisa Moscinski
Contact Email
lisa@antispamgptaskforce.org
Location
 

Our Mission

The Gifford Pinchot Task Force supports the biological diversity and communities of the Northwest through conservation and restoration of forests, rivers, fish, and wildlife.

If you share our values and believe in our work, please click here to donate and become a Gifford Pinchot Task Force member today.


Our Work

The Task Force accomplishes its mission through the following programs. Please click on each program below to learn more about it.

Conservation

To recover thriving fish and wildlife populations and to protect community water sources, the Gifford Pinchot Task Force protects the Central Cascades from destructive mining, grazing, timber practices, and more. At the same time, we work for permanent protection for the most important and unique areas. 

Restoration

The Task Force’s programs are deeply rooted in the foundation of ecological restoration—assisting the recovery of resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. We work to reconnect fragmented landscapes so fish and wildlife habitats can survive floods, fire and drought – all of which are predicted to increase in intensity and occurrence with climate change. For example, we work with coalitions and rural community members to prioritize closure of roads, which can be turned into trails or other non-motorized recreational areas while restoring fish and wildlife habitat.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest (GPNF) Demonstration Project

The GPNF is crucial to habitat connectivity and species migration across the spine of the Cascades and is home to 51 documented or suspected threatened, endangered, or sensitive plant species (such as pale blue-eyed grass), 24 threatened, endangered, or sensitive animal species, and a host of rare and common wildlife ranging from jumping slugs and ensatina salamanders to coyotes, deer, songbirds, and hawks, and the elusive wolverine.  These attributes make the GPNF the ideal location to demonstrate that restored Northwest ecosystems and thriving wildlife populations can be good for the land, the land management agencies, and our communities.

Policy

The Task Force works with other organizations and with coalitions to shape national legislation and Forest Service policies to protect and restore Northwest public lands.

Project Update

Volcano Country Wild Rivers Campaign

Washington's legendary volcanoes - Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier and Mount Adams - are the source of wild, free-flowing rivers and streams that rush through deep gorges and basalt canyons on their way to the Columbia River. Major portions of the most unique and wild rivers in Volcano Country have no permanent protection from new hydropower, water storage dams, or other harmful projects. Protecting the wild rivers of southwest Washington's Volcano Country under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act - the strongest protection we can give to rivers - would permanently safeguard this region's unique and treasured natural heritage.

Healthy rivers will be more precious than ever in the face of climate change. Free-flowing rivers with intact riparian corridors will be much more resilient to the pressures of a changing climate and will provide important benefits such as flood control and critical refuges for fish and wildlife. The time to permanently protect these rivers from hydropower and other threats is now.

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest features some of the nation’s most outstanding rivers. The unique geology that is responsible for excellent fish habitat, the scenic grandeur of these rivers, and the thrilling whitewater rapids has, however, also attracted considerable attention from hydropower developers. In the last two decades, there have been dozens of proposals for hydropower projects on Volcano Country rivers and their tributaries, including the Cispus, Wind, Cowlitz and Lewis. While we know of no hydropower projects currently proposed in Southwest Washington, there are several proposed for other parts of the state and in neighboring Oregon. Increasing concern over climate change as well as our nation’s current dependence on foreign oil is resulting in calls for new hydropower and water storage dams. Wild and Scenic River designation is the most effective way to ensure that they remain free-flowing and intact forever.

In 1990, the U. S. Forest Service evaluated over a dozen rivers in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and found them eligible for inclusion in the national Wild and Scenic Rivers system. The Gifford Pinchot Task Force and American Rivers are partnering to lead the campaign effort and are working with a diverse array of interested citizens and organizations to build the widespread public support necessary to pass legislation designating some of southwest Washington’s outstanding rivers as Wild and Scenic - thereby keeping them intact for fish, wildlife, and future generations.

Volcano Country Wild Rivers Coalition

  • Gifford Pinchot Task Force
  • Clark-Skamania Flyfishers
  • Native Fish Society
  • Lower Columbia Canoe Club
  • Loo Wit Group Sierra Club
  • Washington Trails Association
  • American Rivers
  • American Whitewater
  • Clark County Trout Unlimited
  • Washington Wilderness Coalition

If you are interested in learning more about this campaign and how to get involved please contact Lisa Moscinski at 503.221.2102 ext. 104 or lisa@gptaskforce.org.