Category: In the News
From the front page to the outback, a look at issues that affect Oregon’s high desert.
Sage-grouse are down, but not out
October 13, 2020 | by Jeremy Austin, Policy Manager The numbers are in. Oregon’s sage-grouse population essentially remained flat in 2020. Following years of steep declines, the bird is dwelling at the second-lowest population level ever measured in our state. For nearly 60 years the scientific community has documented the decline of sage-grouse across...
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
Read More
Hold Off on that Oregon Desert Trail Adventure
Please postpone or use caution with any Oregon Desert Trail plans due to COVID 19. Last updated on September 1 Oregon cases of COVID-19 are increasing, especially in remote landscapes like Malheur County (home to the Owyhee Canyonlands) and we continue to advise everyone to follow the state’s guidelines, which includes wearing a mask...
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
Read More
“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....
Read More
Oregon’s High Desert Amid an Outbreak
The sun on our faces, the scent of sagebrush carried by a breeze, a distant call of raptors flying overhead, and the crunch of bare earth below our feet. We feel the pull of Oregon’s wilder side each and every day. And we know that the high desert is calling to many now. If...
Read More
51 Rivers That Could Be Wild and Scenic
Dear Senator Wyden, Thank you for your visionary leadership to preserve Oregon’s wild rivers, clean water, and wildlife for the future. I sincerely appreciate this opportunity to help develop legislation to protect my favorite rivers. For the past four years, I’ve been working to establish the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail, a project of the...
Read More