listen
Owyhee Canyon Swallows Sparrows and Rushing Water
Owyhee Canyon Swallows Sparrows and Rushing Water
listen
Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls
Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls
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
Read MoreWelcome to Oregon's High Desert
With natural beauty, abundant solitude, ample recreational opportunities, significant cultural touchstones, and a wide array of plants and wildlife, Oregon’s high desert is truly world-class. Even more remarkable, much of Oregon’s desert is public land, owned by all Americans equally.
Come, explore the desert alongside Oregon Natural Desert Association and see for yourself how unique and wild this place is.
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. Our community 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 creatures places in which to thrive.
Land Acknowledgment
ONDA’s conservation work takes place on the traditional lands of the Northern Paiute, Wasco and Warm Springs people and on lands currently managed by the Burns Paiute Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Many Indigenous peoples live in Oregon’s high desert region today, including members of the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute), the Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin) and the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe.
The Voice of the Desert
With more than 10,000 members and supporters, ONDA is the only conservation organization dedicated exclusively to preserving Oregon’s high desert.
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.
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.