BARK

Description

BARK is a place-based forest conservation organization working to transform Mt. Hood National Forest into a place where natural processes prevail and local communities are invested in its restoration.

The group formed in 1993 after members noticed clear-cutting on Mt. Hood National Forest and began training volunteers to document logging practices. Its founding program trains groundtruthers who hike every timber sale proposed in the forest to check it against agency documents. Since then it has trained thousands of volunteers and expanded into research, public education and activism.

BARK combines advocacy, fieldwork and public education focused on Mt. Hood and the surrounding public lands. It uses media outreach to raise awareness of logging and development it considers destructive, and it has brought lawsuits against the Forest Service to stop projects when public pressure is not enough. It also works to center environmental justice in its approach to forest defense and restoration.

The organization organizes field trips, hikes, trainings and other events in the forest and at its office, and partners with other conservation groups on shared campaigns. It operates in Oregon, United States.