Hold Off on that Oregon Desert Trail Adventure
Please postpone or cancel your Oregon Desert Trail plans due to COVID 19. Last updated on May 19 While Oregon cautiously moves into the next phases of living with COVID-19, we’re assessing the implications of this for hiking along the Oregon Desert Trail. We found a lot of wisdom in the Pacific Crest Trail...
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How Much Wilderness Do We Need?
In a recent editorial, The Bulletin asked a good question: “how much land does Oregon have that is appropriate for wilderness?” The answer is a lot. A heckuva lot. In Oregon’s high desert alone, federal surveys and volunteer-driven inventories have identified eight million acres of public lands and hundreds of miles of rivers and...
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How to Identify Native Plants
By Scott Bowler Hey, what’s that cool flower? After leading wildflower discovery and identification trips for 40-plus years, I can tell you that people’s most common reaction upon encountering a new flower is: “Oh, cool! What’s that?” They want a name. In this blog post, I’ll guide you through the key steps to figuring...
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Getting Desert Desperate
Five Ideas Admittedly Not as Good as Being in the Desert Standing in the middle of a vast sagebrush plain, kicking over lichen-crusted rocks, with nothing more to do than let the sun kiss you and the real wind whip through your hair. That is a magnificent feeling. The joy to be found walking...
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“My favorite spot on earth …”
When Sen. Ron Wyden invited Oregonians to nominate rivers and creeks for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act last fall, hundreds of people spoke up to nominate Lower Whychus Creek in Central Oregon. The name Whychus means “place where we cross the water” in Sahaptin, the language of the Columbia River tribes....
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Drawn to Nests
One day in spring of 2014, I started drawing bird nests. I didn’t stop for almost a year. These drawings began as a way for me to explore my curiosity about birds’ nests without causing any harm to the birds themselves. My work on this series made me more aware of the impacts we...
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Fifteen Exceptional Volunteers
Earlier this year, we highlighted Ten Superlative ONDA Volunteers. While it’s National Volunteer Week, we’d like to introduce you to fifteen more unique and highly dedicated members of ONDA’s desert conservation community. Hopefully these stories will make for good conversation starters, should you meet one of these desert champions at an ONDA event, on...
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What Can I Do?
Last Updated: April 14, 2020 It’s mid-April 2020 and we are seeing a positive response to Governor Brown’s stay at home order that is helping to keep Covid-19 cases at levels hospitals can handle. The stay at home order allows us to get outside to exercise and enjoy nature, and doing so is important...
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Member Profile: Whitney “Allgood” LaRuffa
If you have been following the development of the Oregon Desert Trail (ODT) over the past few years, you are probably aware that one of its primary goals is to engage the recreation community in conservation issues across the high desert. An excellent example of how the ODT has helped harness the passion and...
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High Desert Academy
Welcome to our digital event community While we’re all following directives to stay close to home, ONDA is bringing the desert straight to you! Wherever you might be, you can follow along with our new High Desert Academy. This series will include stunning tours of high desert highlights, informative workshops that will teach you...
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