As a staff, we are steadfast in our commitment to protect, defend, and restore Oregon’s high desert alongside our members and supporters. Together with the passion and commitment of a community of advocates thousands strong, the skills and experience of our staff make Oregon Natural Desert Association a respected leader in the public lands conversation at the state and federal levels.
Our Staff
Sean Bagshaw Website
Our Staff
fact
What defines Oregon’s high desert?
What defines Oregon’s high desert?
Bounded by the Cascade Mountains to the west and the Blue Mountains to the north, Oregon’s high desert covers approximately 24,000 square miles. Annual rainfall in the high desert varies from 5 to 14 inches. The average elevation is 4,000 feet; at 9,733 feet, the summit of Steens Mountain is the highest point in Oregon’s high desert. The terrain of the high desert was mostly formed by a series of lava flows that occurred between 30 and 10 million years ago.
Sources: The Oregon Encyclopedia; Wikipedia
listen
Owyhee Canyon Swallows Sparrows and Rushing Water
Owyhee Canyon Swallows Sparrows and Rushing Water
voices
Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017
Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017
“To me, it’s a thru-hike in an isolated place that promotes a conversation in land management, ethics and usage. Hiking across a vast and remote landscape and having a random and chance encounter with cowboys and hunters to discuss how ‘all of us’ should treat the land, how we all have a responsibility, no matter our political leanings, really showed me the pulse of the people in rural areas, especially here out west.”
Our Seasonal Staff and Interns
Seasonal Staff
Our field technicians and field interns help us with our Sage-Grouse Habitat Monitoring Project, which monitors the implementation of the BLM’s Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (ARMPA) and ecological health trends on federal lands in eastern Oregon to assess the degree to which public lands are meeting sage-grouse habitat objectives.
Interns
Our wildlands interns spend the summer in the field with ONDA staff and volunteers. Our development interns help ONDA to reach community members interested in getting involved in ONDA’s work by managing ONDA event and publications logistics and representing ONDA at community events. Other students and young professionals join us for a variety of important projects.
2021 Interns
Lily Pifferini-Carter, Hillis Intern
Isaiah Breckbill, Field Monitoring Intern
Tribal Stewards
The Tribal Stewards Program, run with Northwest Youth Corps, offers paid positions to indigenous young adults who spend the summer in the field restoring streams, uplands and trails across Oregon’s desert lands while gaining practical restoration and research experience and exploring conservation career pathways.
The 2021 Tribal Stewards are:
Duane Miller
Audie Davis
Mo Moody
Wesley Scott
Cam Eagle Staff
Parish Cook
Diamond Villalobos