watch

Julie Weikel on Wilderness

Julie Weikel on Wilderness

success

Spring Basin Wilderness

Spring Basin Wilderness

Spring Basin Wilderness

With 10,000 acres of undulating terrain, secluded canyons and spectacular vantages of the John Day Country, Spring Basin is magnificent to explore This public treasure, forever protected as Wilderness, offers a profusion of desert wildflowers in the spring and year-round recreational opportunities for hikers, horseback

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Stewardship Pronghorn Fence

Stewardship Pronghorn Fence

Calendars on Sale Now

Each year, we share awe-inspiring photography from Oregon’s high desert in our Wild Desert Calendar. The 2025 calendar is now on sale for purchase on our website or through one of our retail partners. Get yours today!

Purchase Calendars

A Captivating Year in Oregon’s High Desert

The virtual gallery exhibit of the remarkable natural landscapes and captivating wildlife featured in ONDA’s 2025 Wild Desert Calendar will be available until January 15, 2025.

Enter Now

Save the Date:
Bend Hootenanny

Join ONDA’s board, staff and supporters in celebrating the many high desert conservation successes you achieved in 2024! Save the date for our Bend celebration on Friday, December 6. Find more information below.

Event Info

It’s Time for an Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument

The Owyhee Canyonlands is not protected yet and the clock is ticking on 2024. Tell Senators Wyden and Merkley how important this irreplaceable region is to you and why it cannot wait any longer for permanent protection.

Take Action

John Aylward

Welcome to Oregon's High Desert

With natural beauty, deep cultural significance and a wide array of plants and wildlife, Oregon’s high desert is an impressive stretch of the Pacific Northwest, situated on the northern edge of the Great Basin.
Much of Oregon’s desert is public land, available to all Americans equally. If you like to hike  bike, raft, fish, hunt, stargaze, go birding, watch wildlife, or enjoy any number of other recreational pursuits, you can find an amazing spot to do that here, and enjoy abundant solitude, too.
Oregon Natural Desert Association invites you to see for yourself how unique and wild Oregon’s dry side is.
Discover Oregon’s Desert

Central Oregon Backcountry

Visit Central Oregon

Greg Burke   Website

Greater Hart-Sheldon Region

Explore Hart-Sheldon

Greg Burke   Website

John Day River Basin

Discover John Day

Steve Roelof   Website

Owyhee Canyonlands

Explore the Owyhee

Mark Darnell

Steens Mountain Region

Visit Steens

Barb Rumer

Oregon Desert Trail

Trek the Oregon Desert Trail

Sage Brown   Website

Caring for the Desert We Love

Oregon Natural Desert Association encourages people to get to know the desert and to take steps to conserve these public lands. ONDA is a non-profit organization that defends public lands from threats, partners with public and private land managers to preserve natural values, encourages the exploration of wild places, and restores lands and waters to give desert wildlife safe habitat in which to thrive.    
Our Approach

The Voice of the Desert

ONDA is the only conservation organization dedicated exclusively to preserving Oregon’s high desert. Our members and supporters live in Portland, Bend, all throughout Oregon state, across the country, and abroad.
Our dream? We envision a high desert in Oregon where eight million acres of public lands are conserved to ensure that fish and wildlife thrive and wild places exist for all people to treasure and explore, now and always.
About Us

Jim Davis   Website

Gary Calicott   Website

Jill Hardy

Gena Goodman-Campbell

Sage Brown   Website

Get Involved

Looking to get to know this desert and this community better?
The best way to hear about upcoming events ONDA is hosting and stewardship work we are leading is to sign up for our email updates.  
Subscribe Today

Land Acknowledgment

Oregon’s high desert is the homeland of a diversity of Indigenous people, including the Northern Paiute, Shoshone, Bannock, Wasco, Warm Springs, Yahooskin, Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla peoples organized within several Tribes. These include the Burns Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, the Klamath Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and others.

ONDA is committed to collaborating with these communities and eager to continue learning more about how our conservation mission can complement Tribal and Indigenous conservation goals. Learn more about our commitment to justice, equity and inclusion here:

Learn More