Category: Profile
Meet ONDA members, volunteers and partners.
John Cunningham
Like many ONDA volunteers, John Cunningham is up for any challenge — and his positive attitude and long-standing commitment to supporting ONDA’s conservation mission have landed him the honor of receiving our 2020 Alice Elshoff Conservation Award. “After 30+ stewardship trips completed,” John said, “ONDA’s work just fits me perfectly, because anything that’s dirty,...
Read MoreFrom Wildflowers to Butterflies
A photographer’s collections helped inspire the effort to save native trout in the Malheur rivers by Mac Lacy The sagebrush sea lost a fierce champion when Chris Christie passed away on December 15, 2020. A long-time ONDA supporter, Chris was talented and thoughtful, cheekily humorous, and deeply committed to making the world a better...
Read MoreMeet Joanna Zhang
A Conservation Leader in the Making Please allow us to introduce our newest staff member, Joanna Zhang, who will be serving as our Conservation Fellow for the next two years. She’ll focus on propelling our efforts to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands and see desert rivers designated as Wild & Scenic Rivers. As an ecology...
Read MoreConserving Your Connection
“One of my biggest personal feelings of loss for this terrible pandemic is that I had to give up these ONDA field trips.” When ONDA had to cancel our field-based stewardship trips and community get-togethers as a result of COVID-19, we expected people to be disappointed. After all, we were, too. What surprised us...
Read MoreThe Halfway Point
By Zavier Borja, Latino Outdoor Engagement Coordinator for Children’s Forest of Central Oregon The Painted Hills of eastern Oregon are one of the seven wonders that we have here in Oregon. Beyond the fact that it is a breathtaking geological structure out in what feels like the middle of nowhere, I also hold this...
Read MoreMeet 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...
Read MoreMeet 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...
Read MoreFifteen 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...
Read MoreMember 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...
Read MoreTen Superlative Volunteers
Oregon’s high desert is a unique place, full of magic and wonder. The same could be said of those people who give their time and attention so generously to its care. Today, we’d like to introduce you to ten conservation heroes you could meet at an ONDA event or on a stewardship trip and...
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