David Mildrexler
Systems Ecologist, Wallowology
Starvation Ridge, OR
September 15th - 16th, 2025
The Westies sit perched on a stone bench, snacks and lunches resting in laps, like a flock of birds all lined up on a branch, enjoying the afternoon’s catch. Pink cheeks and drained Nalgenes are aplenty after a morning hiking the nearby Chico Trail. Behind us, the sprawling beauty of Joseph Canyon is on full, uninhibited display– a mosaic of bunch grass and shrubland intermingled with strings of ponderosa pine and layers of exposed basalt, all decorating a landscape carved deeply by Joseph Creek. In the center of our group, David Mildrexler– Systems Ecologist with Wallowology (the education and outreach branch of Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands, an environmental conservation nonprofit) and contractor for the Nez Perce tribe– wraps up his day with us.
The rugged, natural elegance of the surrounding landscape has become immensely clear to us from our time spent with David over the past two days; however, David tells us, Joseph Canyon has not been deemed an official “Wilderness” by the federal government, but, instead, is protected under the designation of “Roadless Area.” David, who received his M.S. in Forest Science from the University of Montana and his PhD in Forest Ecosystems and Society from Oregon State University, has guided us through a discussion of how the U.S. labels and fragments the natural landscape, emphasizing how these manufactured categories dictate our management and protection efforts. He prompts us to ask ourselves, what is wilderness? Who gets to decide this definition?
Oftentimes, “less flashy” landscapes, as David describes them, like Joseph Canyon, are overlooked in legal conversations surrounding environmental protection, even when they likely hold immense ecological and cultural value. Not only is the canyon incredibly important ecologically, serving as a migration corridor for an array of native species by linking the Hells Canyon and Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness areas, but it is deeply rooted in Indigenous culture as the sacred homelands of the Chief Joseph band of the Nez Perce tribe. For these reasons, David describes for us the necessity and urgency of protecting Joseph Canyon as a Roadless Area.
by Marina Roberts