Finding New Places to Love Through Stewardship and Protecting Them Through Sage Society
Aaron Tani, an ONDA member since 2016, regularly volunteers on stewardship trips and contributes monthly as part of the Sage Society.
A Central Oregonian since 1986, Aaron has grown to love Oregon’s high desert for its vastness and the solitude found while exploring this landscape. Friends introduced Aaron to ONDA, and his first experience on a stewardship trip on the South Fork Crooked River motivated him to do more.
The North Fork of the John Day River is his favorite desert place at the moment, but he acknowledges, “If you ask me this question at the end of summer, I’ll probably have a few more favorite places.”
“There are so many hidden gems of Oregon’s high desert. ONDA brought places into my life that I don’t think I would have ever seen if it wasn’t for the stewardship trips,” says Aaron.
While it was the high desert landscape that inspired him to participate in stewardship, Aaron has stepped up his commitment by becoming a monthly donor in the Sage Society after getting to know the people in ONDA’s community.
“I like to say it’s all the places I go with ONDA,” said Aaron, “but really I feel it’s the people – your staff and volunteers – who make those places even better. I’m grateful to be a part of such an amazing group.”
Aaron appreciates the ease of supporting the places he loves year-round through monthly giving. As he says, “Making small monthly donations is convenient and doesn’t strain my budget.”
Aaron enjoys discovering new places through stewardship and he contributes monthly so that ONDA can conserve and restore the places that he’s fallen in love with for his kids and grandkids to discover.
“Maybe with ONDA’s help, they can see all the work that has been done to make these amazing places even better.”
Want to join ONDA’s most forward-thinking members by becoming a monthly donor? Joining the Sage Society is easy and provides sustaining support to protect wild landscapes you love.