2008-A great year for Oregon's high desert

Dear ONDA Members-

ONDA was fortunate to count 2008 as a year of many successes.  With over 1,200 members, we remain a strong organization with an ambitious conservation agenda for 2009.  Looking back, some of the most significant successes for 2008 include:

• Sen. Ron Wyden introduced legislation that will protect almost 40,000 acres of Oregon’s desert in Spring Basin and the Badlands as Wilderness.
• ONDA volunteers logged over 4,000 hours in 2008, planting 4,400 trees and pulling 13 miles of obsolete barbed-wire fence. Be sure to watch our website for the Volunteer Schedule to be released in early 2009.
• In our continuing efforts to protect Steens Mountain, ONDA has submitted comments and testimony against proposals to build wind turbines on the Steens. This came on the back of separate proposals to build hydroelectric pump stations at Summer Lake and Lake Abert. These projects represent potentially severe impacts to critical, high desert wildlife habitat and wild places cherished by visitors.
• ONDA won a landmark court decision which ensures that BLM must study impacts to wilderness values on 4.6 million acres of public lands in the Owyhee Canyonlands region, including impacts from livestock grazing and off-road vehicle use. The BLM  must now rewrite its management plan to ensure the protection of the area's most sensitive and unique lands.

We thank all of our members and donors who made this work possible and we look forward to continuing our efforts to protect, defend and restore Oregon's high desert in 2009.  Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

All the best,

ONDA's staff and board

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