Our Mission
Cascades Raptor Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nature center and wildlife hospital founded in 1987. It was incorporated in 1990 and moved to its current location on Spencer’s Butte in southwest Eugene in 1994.
Our mission is to foster connections between humans and birds of prey through:
- WILDLIFE REHABILITATION: Our wildlife hospital treats 400-700 patients every year, and is currently the only raptor-specific wildlife clinic in Oregon.
- PUBLIC EDUCATION: Each year, over 30,000 people visit our nature center, which is open year round and features nearly 40 resident education birds – one of the largest native North American raptor collections in the Pacific Northwest.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Cascades Raptor Center
We strive to create a space where everyone feels welcome, safe, and heard. Just as biodiversity creates stronger ecosystems, a diversity of human perspectives makes our work more effective and informed. Cascades Raptor Center is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our marginalized visitors, staff, volunteers, and board members. We do not tolerate behavior that threatens, demeans, or excludes them.
Our policy is that raptors are for everyone, and that everyone should have equal access to the benefits of connecting with nature. We acknowledge that communities of color in particular have been and continue to be systematically excluded from many outdoor spaces and pursuits in the U.S. We aim to help these and other underinvested groups connect with wildlife through community outreach, partnerships with other organizations, affinity events, and the cultivation of an accessible, welcoming environment at our facility.
Land Acknowledgement
Our facility is located on the traditional homelands of the indigenous Kalapuya people, an ethnic, linguistic, and cultural group historically consisting of many different tribes. This land was shaped by their highly skilled management and without them, the Willamette Valley would not have the rich diversity of species we see today.
In the 1850s, the Kalapuya were forcibly removed from their land by the U.S. government and made to relocate to reservations in western Oregon. Today their descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
For more information about Kalapuyan lifeways and history, see Kalapuyan Tribal History and A Stable Kalapuyan Anthropogenic Model (Quartux Journal, Dr. David G. Lewis, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde).