Jean Zondervan, who writes about arts and culture for Oregon ArtsWatch, is the writer and project manager for the “Sense of Place” exhibition. 

Located just west of The Dalles, nestled between the Columbia River and I-84, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum has been the official interpretive center for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area since its opening in 1997. A former concrete batch plant transformed into a showcase museum, it has become a hub for the local community and an informative and memorable stop for visitors to the area. Museum visitors find exhibits and hands-on programs that are aimed at inspiring stewardship of the Columbia River Gorge and educating visitors about the natural and cultural history of the region.

In the museum’s newest exhibit, “A Sense of Place: Exploring the History and Evolution of the Imperial Stock Ranch,” opening this month, a 150-year-old family ranch addresses the current issues of offshoring, sustainable ranching, and climate change that face Oregon farms and ranches. The Imperial Stock Ranch, located in the high desert of Wasco County, tells the story of Jeanne Carver and her work to rebuild the U.S. wool market with a focus on land and animal health.

“This story is unique to our region, yet its struggles are relatable. And it’s uplifting because perseverance creates change,” says Dr. Cheryl Ragar, executive director of the museum.  

The museum reopening

The museum itself has needed perseverance this year. “A Sense of Place” is opening simultaneously as the museum reopens after the Rowena fire in June. The 3,700-acre fire scorched the landscape around the building and made the walking trails with a pond and scenic overlooks on its 54-acre site inaccessible. 

While the museum building itself was largely spared from the flames that surrounded it on all sides, smoke and ash filtered in under doors and windows and settled throughout most of the building. Water from the fire hoses seeped into offices. The museum has been closed to the public since mid-June for smoke and fire remediation work.

The destruction outside was greater. “Burned trees and shrubs that threatened to fall on walking trails had to be removed, the posts from fencing around the perimeter must be replaced,” explains Ragar, “and plans for future fire mitigation will be designed and implemented.” 

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“While the landscape will still be evolving, as it always is, we are looking forward to welcoming visitors again,” she adds.

The closure dampened summer plans for The Dalles community, as well, since the Discovery Center & Museum hosts a variety of regular activities for both kids and adults, including pop-up exhibits, a raptor program, citizen science programs, Solar Saturdays for budding astronomers, and regular family-focused celebrations of the natural world. 

Showcasing the Columbia River Gorge

Prior to the fire, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum received over 60,000 visitors in the past year, including 2,000 local schoolchildren. 

The museum opened in 1997 and was designed to house the collections and resources of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum in one facility.  Hacker Architects and landscape architecture firm Walker Macy reimagined a former concrete batch plant into a dynamic 48,000 square-foot museum designed so visitors can take in the dramatic surroundings.

Both the permanent and the short-term exhibits offer multimedia, interactive experiences exploring the geological formation of the Gorge, Ice Age pre-history, Indigenous culture and basketry, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Oregon Trail and regional settlement, transportation, and natural history.

The Discovery Center and Museum serve as an invaluable educational resource for area schools, with year-round programs both in the museum’s classrooms and outside in the surrounding hills and fields. “We provide learning through words and images, interactive games and places to play, lessons for kids, and programs for adults,” says Ragar. The museum’s raptor program holds weekly presentations on the region’s birds of prey. And, in 2023, the Discovery Center merged with Gorge Ecology Outdoors — a long-standing local nonprofit — to deliver outdoor science programs, including in-school and after-school programs, outdoor school, and snow school. They also work with government and nonprofit partners to offer teens a look at real-world careers in science, natural resources, public service, and more.

The River Gallery, with 30-foot glass windows overlooking the Columbia Gorge, is in demand for community events. Last year the museum hosted over 50 private events for corporate, nonprofit, and government programs, and for private celebrations and tours, including weddings and a celebration of life. The museum also offers a theater, cafe, gift shop, and a classroom for educational programs and smaller private rental events.

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A new exhibit celebrates the land

The first major exhibit opening at the museum this year, “A Sense of Place,” explores the changing role of Wasco County’s rangelands and the critical role of sustainability of the land and its resources. The exhibit tells the story of the Imperial Stock Ranch near Shaniko, Oregon, which was established in 1871 by Richard Hinton, and has had only four owners over the years. It is one of the oldest continuously operating ranches in the American West and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The most recent owners are the Carver family, who have owned and operated the ranch since the late 1980s. Consisting of about 32,000 acres of high desert rangeland, the ranch offers vistas with views of five different mountains from various locations on the vast property. 

Since its early days, the ranch has played a key role in the region’s sheep, wool, and cattle industry. When Dan and Jeanne Carver took over Imperial Stock Ranch in the late 1980s, they continued the ranch’s long tradition of grazing sheep and cattle. They also began working with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service and Wasco County Soil and Water Conservation District during their first years on the ranch to focus on land health.

“Dan always wanted to see the land win,” says Jeanne Carver of her late husband. The Carvers committed to sustainable land stewardship, such as no-till farming, and implemented regenerative grazing and soil health management long before the terms became popular.

“In 1990, we faced a watershed moment. According to our local fish and wildlife agency, only two salmon returned to spawn in Buck Hollow Creek that year,” recalls Carver. To help improve stream health, the Carvers built catch basins for water high on the land where the streams begin and developed protected natural springs. This water kept livestock and wildlife from going down to drink and graze too close to the streams. Over time, a robust salmon population has returned to the creeks to spawn.

In 2016, the Responsible Wool Standard was launched and is now the leading global certification for sheep and wool production. The RWS is a voluntary standard that requires all farmers and ranchers in the program to be evaluated against animal welfare, land management, and social requirements. Imperial Stock Ranch became the first sheep operation in the world to be certified to this standard.

Resilience is rewarded

Wool is a focal part of the exhibit story as, out of necessity, Imperial Stock Ranch became a key player in reshaping the American wool industry. 

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In the early 1900s, Shaniko, now a famed ghost town, was considered the “wool capital of the world.” The Columbia Southern Railway reached Shaniko in 1900, making it a hub for shipping sheep, wool, cattle, and wheat from Central Oregon to the Columbia River and beyond.

The U.S. sheep population was highest in the 1940s. But, over time, offshoring — when a company moves a business process, function, or operation to another country, often to reduce costs — impacted the wool production and hollowed out the domestic wool scouring, spinning, and weaving industry. By 1999, Imperial Stock Ranch lost its longtime wool buyer and had to figure out a new way to market their products.

“We refused to give up. Instead of accepting we couldn’t sell the wool, we created our own yarn and textile products, pioneering a direct-to-market approach or what’s now called farm-to-fashion,” says Carver. “We were part of the slow food movement and began crafting slow fashion before that term even existed.”

After thirteen years of finding and evolving ways to process and sell their wool domestically, the Carvers got a life-changing call. “In 2012, Ralph Lauren called seeking wool yarns for their first Made in America Team USA Olympic uniforms for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia,” explains Jeanne Carver. “Our perseverance paid off.” 

The Shaniko Wool Company

In 2018, after receiving the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certification, Jeanne Carver founded the Shaniko Wool Company to scale the supply of RWS-certified American wool, establishing traceable, close-to-home supply chains with domestic partners. The Shaniko Wool group of 10 partner ranches in the western U.S. manage over 3.7 million acres under RWS certification, utilizing sustainable and regenerative practices.

Since 2020, Carver has worked with academics like Oregon State University to develop a research model to measure the ecosystem and climate impacts of the Shaniko Wool Farm Group ranches, confirming the positive impact on the ecosystems provided by their farming methods. Their data shows the ranch is operating with a net positive carbon impact, effectively offsetting the ranch’s emissions and storing tens of thousands of tons of carbon in the soil.

The Carver family’s story is one featured in Robert Jobson’s book on the legacy and vision of King Charles III, released on his 75th birthday, as an example of the sustainable agricultural practices the king has promoted his entire life. Jeanne Carver has also won Oregon State University’s Changemaker and Agricultural Sciences Hall of Fame Awards, the American Sheep Industry’s 2023 Innovation Award, and was awarded a Global Trailblazer Award in 2025. 

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“We have a net-positive impact on nature and now, through these measurements on each Shaniko Farm Group ranch, our customers can understand our impact” Carver points out. Companies can promote Shaniko’s sustainable practices as they market high-quality merino wool products to their customers.

Oregon artists help tell the story of Imperial Stock Ranch

“A Sense of Place” features full-length wall murals that give the expansiveness of Wasco County rangelands in the 500 square-foot exhibit space. Designer Alan Ransenberg, of the Portland firm The Alchemy of Design, notes “I played with the horizon line to give a sense of a vastness in the exhibit space, aiming for a feel of the horizon on the ranch land.”

The exhibit space also includes opportunities to engage multiple senses. Visitors can touch wool in various stages of processing, and experience the feel of the high desert rangeland through video. “Interactive areas are meant to ignite interest to learn more outside of the exhibit,” explains Ransenberg. 

In addition, collaborations with several Oregon multimedia artists also help shape the visitor experience. An installation of wool art by regional fiber artist Kristina Foley leads visitors into the exhibit. Foley focuses on using regenerative, locally raised materials in her artwork. She uses Shaniko Wool as the basis for her pieces, along with wool sourced from small Pacific Northwest farms. 

The story of how sunlight energy is converted into wool is illustrated through the papercut art of Portland-based artist and writer Emily L. Brown of Bird Mafia. 

Photography and video by Sean O’Connor of Story Gorge are featured, including the exhibit video which contains footage taken while filming a documentary on the Carvers’ work to build a more sustainable U.S. wool industry. The documentary, still in progress, was made possible with support from The Redford Center.

Each work by the artists provides a unique and deeper sense of the high desert landscape and the region’s ongoing relationship with wool.

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Hours and admission

The “A Sense of Place” exhibit and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum is open to the public daily. Other events this fall include Grossology, a traveling exhibit based on the children’s book series by Sylvia Branzei  on October 24; Festive Wreath Making with Native Plants on November 22; and an Archaeology Road Show, on December 6.

Museum hours are 9am to 5pm daily.  Admission to the Discovery Center & Museum, including the new exhibition, is $12. For more information, visit gorgediscovery.org