Signs of Fall
Autumn is a time of transition in Oregon’s high desert. The cooler days and cooler nights bring a wave of red and yellow hues into this generally sage-green and dusky golden brown plantlife, and everything from butterflies to elk is on the move. Read on for more of the cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena...
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Species Spotlight: Quaking Aspen
by LeeAnn Kriegh The day I fell in love with Central Oregon, I woke to the sound of a quaking aspen’s leaves rustling outside my bedroom window. A breeze was stirring, and I looked out to see the leaves flashing green-silver against the white of the trunk and the blue of a cloudless sky....
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What Wild & Scenic Looks Like
Did you know that, in addition to rivers, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act can also protect creeks, streams and lakes? Wild and Scenic desert waters take many forms and every drop of desert water plays an important role in the desert ecosystem. From mighty salmon-bearing rivers, like the North Fork John Day, to...
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Sutton Mountain Dazzles, Inspires in Equal Measure
By Matt Wastradowski The Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument sees roughly 200,000 visitors per year, almost all of them dazzled by the brightly colored hillsides, arid landscapes, and explosive ecological history of the John Day River Basin. But just east of the Painted Hills sits Sutton Mountain, rising...
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Meet Six Steady ONDA Members
ONDA turned 33 this year, and more than a few of our members have been with us ever since our founding in the mid-eighties. We love the perspective that those long-time desert advocates bring! We also appreciate all the fresh ideas and excited questions that folks who are new to the desert and new...
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Inspired by the Desert
Even if you are not an artist, you’ve probably wished you could somehow capture the way that sunlight paints the desert in subtle hues. For the six artists profiled below, Oregon’s high desert has proved to hold endless inspiration. Read on to get to know more about their lives, their work and how they...
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Summertime Strategies
Wow, it’s hot out there in the high desert! At least much of the time … not so much at night … and not every day either. (I can clearly recall July 4, 2010, when, camped out on the West Little Owyhee River, we got 4” of snow overnight and all our water was...
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Signs of Summer
Across Oregon’s high desert, plants and animals spend the summer months “searching” — for shade, for water, for food, for safety from predators. Below, you’ll find a snapshot of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena you might see taking place across Oregon’s high desert in June, July and August. We invite you to share your...
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Steppe It Up for the Greater Hart-Sheldon Region
How would you manage few million acres of public lands in Oregon’s desert? Later this summer, you will have a critical opportunity to answer that question. The Bureau of Land Management will be seeking input from the public on the Lakeview Resource Management Plan Amendment. This process will lay the foundation for how more...
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Meet a Few of ONDA’s Far-Flung Members
“ONDA helps me stay tethered to a part of the world that means a great deal to me personally and is critically important to Oregon’s biodiversity and history.” – ONDA member Molly Holt While most ONDA members live in Oregon, we also have a strong base of support in Seattle, a growing contingent in...
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