Mission

The USHA advances collaboration among hut operators in the US and promotes huts as valuable resources for environmental conservation, education and recreation. We fulfill this mission with three operational pillars:

  • Alliance - we connect hut operators to each other and to other communities of practice including land managers and non-profit organizations,

  • Education - we maintain a library of best practices for the operation of visitor facilities in backcountry settings to minimize the environmental impacts of overnight use,

  • Advocacy - we advocate for huts as a wise strategy for resource protection, visitor management and visitor education.

Vision

Hut operators are connected across all 50 states and America’s diverse landscapes, 

  • Hut operators have a common voice and a seat at the table in state and national environmental and land-management conversations,

  • Best practices are minimizing environmental impacts of overnight use, and providing affordable, high-quality visitor experiences, 

  • Huts are recognized leaders in using off-grid and remote building technology,

  • Huts are recognized as wise land management and resource protection tools,

  • Huts have a demonstrated economic value in their communities and regions,

  • Huts are increasing accessibility to the outdoors while protecting from overuse,

  • Huts support and encourage primarily human-powered travel. 

Values

Stewardship - We operate huts to build an appreciation for their surroundings among visitors and to help ensure we pass these places on undiminished to future generations. We support Leave No Trace principles. We support friends and families stewarding a love of place between generations.

Hospitality - Hut doors are open to all; we welcome the public in all of its variety and work to make them feel welcome, safe, and sheltered.

Partnership - We recognize, thank and engage with the many partners that make huts possible including state and Federal agencies, neighboring communities, volunteers, guests and the historic inhabitants of the land on which huts are situated.

Education - We learn and we teach; huts are classrooms for environmental education, the natural sciences, human history and values, outdoor skills, and group leadership. As a community we exchange best practices, nationally and internationally, that benefit our visitors and the land on which we operate.

Service - We serve the public by providing quiet shelter, local information, search and rescue support, and revenue to our communities. 

Play - while we take our work seriously, we know that recreation and play balance life’s scale; we encourage this balance in our members and with hut guests.

 

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity,

stability, and beauty of the biotic community.

It is wrong when it tends otherwise.

—Aldo Leopold, “The Land Ethic,” in A Sand County Almanac