Dark Desert Skies

Grant Tandy

voices

Sarah Graham, Sage Sustainers Member

Sarah Graham, Sage Sustainers Member

“I contribute to ONDA monthly because it adds up to a larger annual gift than what I’d be able to comfortably afford if I were to do a simple one-time donation annually. I’m able to give more to ONDA this way and have greater impact which is important to me, and my dog Polly.”

listen

Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls

Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls

success

Central Oregon’s “Backyard Wilderness”

Central Oregon’s “Backyard Wilderness”

Our quest to protect the Oregon Badlands

Located just 15 miles east of Bend, Oregon Badlands is a 30,000-acre wilderness area filled with fascinating lava flows and ancient juniper trees Arriving in the Badlands, so named for its rugged and harsh terrain, can feel like stepping

Read More

Grant Tandy

Grant Tandy

Grant Tandy

Grant Tandy

That’s not to say that dark skies aren’t important to human beings and some of our biological needs, as well. An unnatural variation of darkness can manipulate our circadian rhythm, potentially disturbing our chance for a sound night’s rest. Culturally, we would be amiss without stories shared around a campfire about the starry positions and cosmological formations that tell our history.

So the question remains: how can we preserve our dark skies? The answer to preservation lies in changing the way we think and how we interact with the night in order to decrease light pollution. Light covers, forcing light downwards to the ground, rather than up into the sky can be easily placed on existing fixtures. Light strands can be set to timers, made to automatically turn off during the darkest points of the night when most of us are asleep and unable to enjoy them anyway.

If you live in Central Oregon, you’re lucky to be surrounded by organizations that are dedicated to the preservation of dark skies, and education on the wonders of our universe.

  • In Sunriver, you can find the Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory, with one the nation’s largest publicly accessible observatories, managed by local Central Oregon Community College astronomy professor Bob Grossfeld.
  • Just east of Bend, you can find Pine Mountain Observatory, a world-class astronomical research facility with opportunities for the public to interact with astronomers, such as University of Oregon’s very own Doctor Scott Fisher.
  • In Bend, you’ll find Worthy Brewing’s Hopservatory, run by Grant Tandy– local astrophotographer, Central Oregon native, and the galaxy’s friendliest observatory manager. All of these passionate individuals are ready to teach you about the importance of the night skies and the vast knowledge contained in our universe.

International Dark Sky Week runs from March 31 through April 7, 2019. So turn out your lights and look up at the sky. Happy star hunting.

Written by Kody Osborne. Photos by Grant Tandy.

How to find a hot spring in the dark

ONDA’s Owyhee Canyonlands Coordinator Corie Harlan shares a lesson learned from a particularly epic trip into the Owyhee. Three hours into our drive to Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands, the AC quit working and I had a sinking feeling I’d forgotten my hiking boots – but there was no time to worry about any of that. Giant, […]

Read More

The Last Darkness

Patagonia athletes Jeff Browning and Jesse Haynes attempt to run the last 170 miles of the Oregon Desert Trail in a four-day span. They were supported by photographers Fred Marmsater and Jonathan Byers and Trailhead Labs’ Jereme Monteau.

Watch Now

Dark Desert Skies

By on March 29, 2019 | Posted in: How-To, Where-to

For those of us who have spent time in Oregon’s high desert, there is no need to explain how truly dark skies showcase the wonders of the stars viewable by the naked eye. Night skies relatively free from light pollution — that is, human-created artificial lighting and atmospheric disturbances such as smog — will...

Read More

Steens Mountain Travel Plan

By on March 12, 2019 | Posted in:

Current Status Victorious! On appeal, the Ninth Circuit threw out BLM’s unlawful travel plan and critical wildlife habitat on Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon has been protected from motorized disruption. Our goal Steens Mountain is one of the last remaining strongholds for the Greater sage-grouse, an iconic bird whose survival is threatened by fragmentation...

Read More

Steens Mountain Fence Flagging with BHA

By on February 21, 2019 | Posted in:

Our second year partnering with BHA to flag barbed wire fence on Steens Mountain to prevent sage-grouse collisions.

Read More
Malheur Refuge Fence Mapping

Malheur Refuge Fence Mapping

By on February 21, 2019 | Posted in:

Locate and map fence within the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for future removal or retrofit projects.

Read More

Steens Mountain Fence Flagging with BHA

By on February 21, 2019 | Posted in:

Read More

Malheur Refuge Fence Mapping 

By on February 21, 2019 | Posted in:

Read More

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

By on February 18, 2019 | Posted in:

Read More

Steens Mountain

By on February 11, 2019 | Posted in:

Read More

The Creation Story
and the Malheur Cave

By on January 31, 2019 | Posted in: Uncategorized

For the Paiute of the Great Basin of the American West, winter is storytelling season. Around the fires of Paiute camps and villages, storytellers passed on tribal visions of the animal people and the human people, their origins and values, their spiritual and natural environment, and their culture and daily lives. The book “Legends...

Read More

2019 Stewardship Trip Registration Opens

By on January 30, 2019 | Posted in:

The moment you’ve been waiting for. ONDA’s line up of stewardship trips for 2019 will open for registration on the morning of February 25. Where will you go to improve the desert – to a deep gorge in the Steens Mountain Wilderness, to the shoulder of Hart Mountain, or into the John Day River Basin?...

Read More