Author: Mark Salvo | Published: May 21, 2025 | Category: In the News
This article originally appeared in the Spring + Summer 2025 Desert Ramblings Newsletter.
Finally, a management plan for this iconic region.
Decades of organizing and advocacy paid off when ONDA secured a tremendous achievement for the Greater Hart-Sheldon in January. Renowned for its vast wild lands and world-class wildlife, this region spans over 150 miles from Fort Rock and Devil’s Garden in the north all the way to the Nevada border. The Bureau of Land Management’s final management plan for this iconic expanse protects and conserves more than 1.1 million acres of public lands.
This rolling sagebrush sea is home to pronghorn, greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit and dozens of species of migratory birds. Rich with cultural history, the region also supports extraordinary backcountry recreation and hosts the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary, the largest dark sky reserve in the world.
The BLM’s new plan protects 415,679 acres of public lands, while also conserving wilderness values and wildlife habitat on an additional 738,665 acres. These new protections build upon a half-million acres of wilderness-quality lands already designated in the region, so that more than half of all the public lands in the Greater Hart-Sheldon are now protected or conserved.
Conservation management of this landscape will promote habitat connectivity, bolster climate resilience, and preserve one of the most important wildlife migration corridors in the West. This achievement is a direct result of ONDA’s members, supporters, volunteers and advocates who invested years into surveying the landscape, advocating for conservation, and pressing for strong, science-based decision-making for the Greater Hart-Sheldon.
