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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A New Chapter for the Desert Trail in Oregon
By Renee Patrick, Program Coordinator for the Oregon Desert Trail When ONDA looked east in 2011 with the thought of establishing a desert hiking route that would connect into the important sagebrush steppe ecosystems they had been working to protect, defend, and restore since 1987, they looked to the Desert Trail. The Oregon Desert...
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Conservation Update: Halfway Through 2020
Taking stock of these unprecedented times and all that our communities and the country have experienced in recent months, it is difficult to believe the year 2020 is only half over. For ONDA, these events have highlighted the need for further reflection and evolution as individuals and as an organization. And it has required...
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Standing against racism and injustice
Dear ONDA members: The recent, senseless murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd and the threat of violence against Christian Cooper have shaken all of us. The protests of the past week reflect the accumulated pain that has come from generations of racism and injustice in many communities across the country. ONDA...
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Walking the High Desert
A new book about the Oregon Desert Trail debuts this month: Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America along the Oregon Desert Trail, written by Ellen Waterston, published by University of Washington Press. In this book, Waterston, an ONDA member and former high desert rancher, writes of a wild, essentially roadless, starkly beautiful...
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Six Unique Ways to Give
An inky night sky studded with endless stars. Quirky sage-grouse dancing at dawn. A soothing soak in a peaceful hot spring. Discovering delicate desert blooms. Spotting soaring migratory birds. Sage-green vistas that stretch out for miles and miles. Scenes like these – which you can see in the photos below – are just a...
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Species Spotlight – Pronghorn
A long list of charismatic animals inhabits Oregon’s high desert. Species such as the Greater Sage-grouse, bighorn sheep, cougars, burrowing owls and even the occasional black bear or wandering moose (okay, just one moose), can all be found exploring the characteristic rimrock, sagebrush, and open spaces of the state’s eastern half. In fact, many...
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