The collection consists of records of Oregon Wild, an environmentalist organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The bulk of the records were created under the organization's former names, Oregon Wilderness Coalition and Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC).

Significant portions of the collection relate to specific natural and wilderness areas in Oregon and to litigation in which the organization took part. Specific locations represented include sites in the Mt. Hood and Willamette national forests that ONRC volunteers monitored as part of the organization's "Adopt-a-Grove" campaign in the 1990s; coastal barrier areas; the Klamath Basin region; federal research natural area sites; and areas in national forests identified in the Roadless Area Research and Evaluation (RARE) program. Litigation records include lawsuits against the construction and maintenance of the Elk Creek Dam; a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service over construction of a road near Bald Mountain on the northern edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in southwestern Oregon; litigation against a planned expansion of the Mt. Hood Meadows ski area; and litigation and appeals relating to planned timber sales. Litigation records also include files of attorney Neil S. Kagan, who worked for the organization and gave it his professional papers. These files include records from cases Kagan worked on for other clients.

Other materials in the collection include administrative records and subject files; records relating to fundraising, events, and publicity; records about the organization's involvement in preserving the Bull Run Watershed from logging and work related to clean drinking water for the Portland, Oregon, area; documents relating to cattle grazing in wilderness areas, including records of the ONRC's "Cow Cops" program to monitor grazing; and materials of and relating to other organizations, including other environmental groups and the U.S. Forest Service.