Ric Bailey rows down the Grande Ronde River in 2005. The self-proclaimed "reluctant wilderness activist" has just published a memoir of his time in Wallowa County.

ENTERPRISE — “Lone Druid: Chronicles of a Reluctant Wilderness Activist” is the story of a conservationist who lived in Wallowa County and wanted to protect it from development, says Ric Bailey, the author.

“It’s about a person with an isolationist lifestyle who is an activist who wants to protect the forests,” he said. “Read the book.”

It will be available soon — he hopes — at the Bookloft in Enterprise, at 107 E. Main St. For now, it’s available online through Amazon for $29.95.

Bailey calls himself a “chronic nature lover” who “believes we should protect some of our land instead of managing everything ourselves.”

The 285-page book, featuring photographs by Dave Jensen, recounts Bailey’s 30 years of working to protect the unique and cherished natural wonders of the Hells Canyon-Wallowa ecosystem.

He recounts his toxic run-ins with local interests not supportive of his conservation agenda, particularly the lumber industry, and the bureaucracy of the U.S. Forest Service, while sharing his personal epiphanies in the wild outdoors of the Wallowas and Hells Canyon.

The book presents a no-holds-barred critique of local politics while offering recognition of the many supportive and inspirational people in the county.

The run-ins locally were “a variety of hostilities with people in the resource industries,” Bailey said. “A lot of it was innocuous stuff, but there were some death threats, as well.”

He believes his most controversial proposal, a Hells Canyon-Chief Joseph National Preserve, and the misunderstandings that beset it and his resurrection of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council into a formidable force in the West for protecting and restoring natural resources ran afoul of those in the timber industry. He sees that as ironic given his blue-collar background of falling timber and driving trucks.

After retiring from his activist work, Bailey spent several years guiding whitewater rafting trips on Idaho’s Salmon River. Now 71, he lives in Winthrop, Washington, where he’s been about 10 years.