Welcome Emily Cain, GHCC's Executive Director
Greetings Greater Hells Canyon Council friends:
The GHCC Board of Directors is delighted to announce the selection of Emily Cain of Enterprise, Oregon, as our next Executive Director.
Emily brings local environmental knowledge, commitment to our mission, and friendly style to strategically lead GHCC in a pivotal time of opportunity and challenge.
As the president of GHCC Board of Directors for the past two years, and serving on the Board since 2017, Emily demonstrated vital leadership skills. Now, rolling up her sleeves this week as our new executive director, Emily is ready to delve in.
“I’m deeply honored to continue the conservation legacy of GHCC in the broader Blue Mountains region. As a grassroots group, we are dedicated to protecting some of the last, best wildlands in the lower 48 states,” Emily shared with us when accepting the position.
Some of you may know Emily from her years of owning and operating Barking Mad Farm Bed & Breakfast, a small guesthouse and working farm in the heart of Wallowa County (opened in 2006).
In addition to running a thriving local business and volunteering for GHCC, Emily serves as board treasurer for Slow Food Wallowas—dedicated to “creating access to Good, Clean, and Fair food for all.”
Her environmental background includes serving as program coordinator from 2008-2014 in Portland for the Center for Earth Leadership. There, she recruited and coordinated a diverse network of 1000+ volunteers, fundraised, created, and coordinated the Portland Eco-School Network, and spoke on behalf of the Center.
Emily also brings her experience as a community organizer for the Progressive Voter Network and as an organizer for Powershift 2007, the Youth Global Warming Summit in Washington, D.C. that rallied 6,000+ students from across the country.
Born and raised in Oregon, Emily left to attend Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where in 2006 she earned a B.A. cum laude in Environmental Science (biology/ecology emphasis) and Political Science. She returned to Oregon as an instructor for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s Outdoor Science School based in Bend and the Oregon Coast, leading trips throughout the northwest and Canada. She earned a project management certification from Portland State University in 2010.
Here are a few more tidbits about Emily. She was a soccer star in high school and college and went on to be the head coach of the JV Girls team for South Salem High School. She worked as a park ranger for two seasons for the Bureau of Land Management in the western cascades, and naturally, Emily enjoys hiking and camping in the wilds.
Emily and her husband Rob live in a tiny house next to the bed & breakfast and share that space with their two happy blue heelers and within earshot of the goats, pigs, and chickens.
As we announce Emily as our new Executive Director, we also express our deep gratitude to Darilyn Parry Brown who guided and nurtured GHCC over the past ten years. We wish her the very best—especially time to savor and enjoy the wild beauty of all those rivers, mountains, canyons, and forests she helped to protect.
Please join us in welcoming Emily. She’s looking forward to hearing from you. Her email is: emily@hellscanyon.org.
For the wilds,
Greater Hells Canyon Council Board of Directors
