The Land

Bells Mountain is wild, beautiful, and diverse.

They encompass a diverse array of habitats and inhabitants. Wetlands, riparian areas, mature forests, alpine meadows, and established oak savannas are all thriving and teaming with verdant plant and animal communities. Much of the land has also suffered from generations of abuse and extraction. Through educated and informed stewardship, we hope to protect and support the Land and their more-than-human inhabitants.

Our Location

Stretched across the western side of what is currently known as Bells Mountain, part of the Cascade Mountain range. Located in a rural area 10 minutes outside the city of Battle Ground, WA in Clark County. These 700 acres are surrounded on three sides by State Forest lands and sit to the south of Moulton Falls State Park.

Positioned in the Salmon Creek watershed, cold water springs on top of Bells Mountain flow into year round streams across the Land. Downstream of the confluence with Rock Creek, this water system enters Salmon Creek, which winds its way southwest, eventually entering Lake River. Lake River enters the Columbia River shortly thereafter near the town of Ridgefield, WA.

Bells Mountain is about 40 minutes outside of Portland, OR and 2.5 hours from Seattle, WA.

See Map & Get Directions

We Acknowledge the Land

Peoples of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Bands of Chinook, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes have made their homes along the Columbia River and its tributaries have tended these lands since time immemorial. Bells Mountain acknowledges that we make our lives and livelihoods on these traditional village sites.

White settlers destroyed thriving communities over just a few hundred years. Millions of people were violently removed from their traditional homelands, and Native American parents and elders were forced to submit their children to settler schools, which were meant to assimilate the children to white settler culture. We steward these lands knowing that our presence is part of an ongoing invasion and that these lands were, and continue to be, forcibly and unlawfully taken from their original indigenous inhabitants.

We honor and respect all First Nations and the descendants of the traditional stewards of these lands, many of whom are still here in what we now call southwest Washington.

As we forge relationships and humbly listen and learn, we're making conscious efforts to educate ourselves on tribal sovereignty and rights. This includes a commitment to protecting First Foods, including restoring oak woodlands that support Blue Camas. Bells Mountain respects, shares, and supports a commitment to reciprocity, cultural and climate healing, and social and environmental justice.

Join Bells Mountain in learning and supporting:

The Flora & Fauna

The 700 acres stewarded by Bells Mountain contain diverse and bountiful plant and animal life. The Land includes wetlands, riparian habitats, mature forests, and established oak savannas that serve as home to WA candidate species of Cascade Torrent Salamanders, Pileated Woodpeckers, and Vaux's Swifts along with hundreds of other creatures. With magnificent views of Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams, the land spans elevations from 600 to 2,400 feet above sea level.

Surrounded by State Forest land, portions of Bells Mountain have been largely modified by humans through logging, clearing, road construction, rock extraction, pond creation, and more. While damaging in places, the human touch also added more habitat edges and diversity to the landscape including the addition of a large meadow and several ponds.

Some residents of Bells Mountain include:

Blue Elder

Rough-Skinned Newt

Garry Oak

Pileated Woodpecker

Vaux's Swift

Cascade Torrent Salamander

Blue Camas

Big Leaf Maple

The vast size of the property, variety of habitats, presence of multiple wetlands, mixed ages and species of trees, and variety of wildlife including apex predators, make this a humming and diverse property for wildlife and robust environment for ecosystem stewardship.

Throughout 2018-2019, we partnered with Cohabitats, an environmental consultancy guided by the wisdom of nature, to track and understand the wildlife at Bells Mountain. Read their reports and findings below to learn more about protecting and stewarding the Land.

Initial 2018 Report

Winter 2018 Report

Spring 2019 Report