watch

Oregon Desert Trail Map

Oregon Desert Trail Map

watch

Sage Steppes

Sage Steppes

voices

Aaron Tani, Sage Society Member

Aaron Tani, Sage Society Member

“It feels good to support ONDA on a monthly basis, because I know they never stop supporting our public lands. ONDA works to help make our lands a better place for the future, and I feel like I’m a part of that every month with my support.”

Seeing Conservation Work Come to Life

Follow along as we illustrate the process we undertake on our stream restoration projects across Oregon’s high desert.

Read On

Allison Law

Spring Stewardship Trips

Registration for ONDA's 2025 spring stewardship trips are still open. Check out our upcoming trip offerings and learn more about our restoration work.

Register Today

Work With Us

We're hiring! Looking to use your skills to advance high desert conservation? Check out open positions on our careers page.

Careers

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