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Home , Alvord Desert, Central Oregon, High Desert (Oregon), Oregon Outback, Owyhee River, Pueblo Mountains

2011 Wild Calendar Natural Desert Association field work: The Oregon Natural Desert Association needs your support. By joining ONDA you are supporting our efforts to protect, defend and restore Oregon’s native . There is no better way to experience Oregon’s the onda than volunteering with ONDA. Please consider making a gift today or joining us on a volunteers story restoration trip. Visit www.onda.org or call 541.330.2638 for more information.

Photos: Chris coiling barbed wire © Robert Tilley (left). volunteer trip, © Steve Vidito (center top). Kids at annual meeting, © Alan Butler (center bottom). Colin at ONDA annual meeting © Kim Brown (right). Did you know almost half of Oregon is desert? East of the Cascades, the state’s evergreen give way to arid lands of subtle beauty. Oregon’s High Desert is home to sage grouse, and kit fox; its support legendary migratory populations, and its important populations of salmon, steelhead and redband trout ply desert rivers. The desert boasts stands of juniper, aspen, moun- tain mahogany and ponderosa pine. Though isolated and sparsely populated, these fragile lands and rivers are threatened by irrespon- sible livestock , off-road vehicle use and mining. Wilderness protection can help protect the desert from these threats. Oregon Natural Desert Association is the only nonprofit working exclusively to protect Oregon’s High Desert. ONDA’s mission is to protect, de- fend and restore the health of Oregon’s native deserts. Since 1987, ONDA has successfully used education, science, litigation and grassroots advocacy to protect these special lands. ONDA is working to save Oregon’s desert gems, a suite of special places that includes , the Canyonlands, and Oregon’s Outback, the Desert and the John Day River Basin. We are lucky to have these places in our backyard. We hope you enjoy the stunning photographs in this calendar. After you’ve absorbed their beauty, please remember that ONDA needs your help to save these places for ourselves, for , and for fu- ture generations. We hope you’ll join ONDA and help save Oregon’s High Desert. Map by Craig Miller John Day River Basin on Bridge Creek, a tributary of the John volunteers, the Oregon Badlands were fi- Mountain suffered from grazing until an gles, sage grouse, snakes and lizards and Flowing over 280 miles, the John Day is Day River. With the recent designation of nally designated as Wilderness in March, ONDA lawsuit forced removal of native plants. Covering 3 million acres the second longest undammed river in Spring Basin Wilderness, ONDA can now 2009. Future opportunities for wilder- in 1994. Renowned for its rich wetlands in Oregon, and , the Ow- the contiguous U.S. Biologically, the John work to secure wilderness protection for ness in Central Oregon include Whychus- that provide important for mi- yhee Canyonlands comprise one of the Day is among the most vital watersheds other public lands, including Cathedral Deschutes Canyon, Hampton Buttes, gratory , the area is most important roadless areas in North in , claiming one of the Rock and Horse Heaven Proposed Wil- Gerry Mountain and lands on the South among the most overlooked wild places America. A 1999 ONDA lawsuit removed last all-wild runs of anadromous fish in derness Areas, Sutton Mountain and the Fork . in Oregon. In addition to its waterways, livestock from much of the Owyhee River the Columbia Basin, and the largest and Lower John Day Basin. the Warner Valley area is notable for its corridor. ONDA is currently working to most viable run of wild steelhead in the Hart Mountain & Oregon’s Outback healthy shrubsteppe habitat and Native protect over 2 million acres of wilderness lower 48. The John Day Basin is charac- Central Oregon Desert Hart Mountain is an incomparable bio- American cultural sites. quality lands in the Owyhee. terized by steep canyon walls, hills An active resort, recreation, and retire- logical gem. Herds of pronghorn roam its dotted with juniper and sagebrush in ment community, Bend is surrounded by stark slopes and plains. The mountain’s Owyhee River Canyonlands lower elevations and mixed for- public lands. East of Bend lies an array springs feed streams that run cool, clear The Owyhee Canyonlands, Oregon’s most Learn more about these desert re- ests at the basin divide. One of the most of desert wildlands worthy of Wilderness and deep, fostering healthy populations remote roadless area, lie in the southeast geologically rich river corridors in the gions and read about featured hikes designation. These lands provide habitat of native redband trout. This unique corner of the state. The Owyhee River on our website. West, the John Day’s fossil records date for pronghorn, , sage grouse landscape is a refuge for the threatened and its tributaries have carved spectacular back 54 million years. In 2008 ONDA and countless plant species. After decades sage grouse. Established as a National canyons in the desert; its waters support www.onda.org began a stream habitat restoration project of campaign work by ONDA staff and Antelope Refuge in the 1930s, Hart pronghorn, bighorn , deer, , ea-

onda wild desert 2011 • www.onda.org

Trout Creek Mountains sunset and Willow Creek Wilderness Study Area. © Jim Davis

J a n u a r y sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1

New Year’s Day 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Perihelion (Earth closest to Sun) 11 am pst Quadrantid meteor shower (40/hour) onda incorporated, 1989 Willow Creek ice. © Jim Davis

“The late afternoon sun spread golden 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 light on the land, … It was a big silence, soothing, serene, made bigger, more soothing, more serene by the sounds that Aldo Leopold born, 1887 whispered in it: shush of wind, clack of rock, scrape of brush, … beat of heart.”

– Bernard Schopen 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 The Big Silence

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday observed

23 24 30 31 25 26 27 28 29

Cows removed from Blitzen Wild & Scenic River, January 31, 1997 Edward Abbey born, 1927

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Alvord Desert with Steens Mountain. © Tyson

F e b r u a r y sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4 5

Groundhog Day 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

St. Valentine’s Day 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Skiers on Steens Mountain. © Kevin Grove

Howard Zahniser, father “Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind of 1964 Wilderness Act, Presidents’ Day born, 1906 ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem 27 28 of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains.” First Gray Wolf in 37 years enters Oregon, 1999 – J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of The Rings onda wild desert 2011 • www.onda.org

Cathedral Rock Proposed Wilderness. © Jim Davis

M a r c h sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Ash Wednesday 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Daylight Saving Time . © Greg Burke begins, 2 am St. Patrick’s Day “On this lonely ridge I was not more 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 than two days’ hike from road’s end. Yet it seemed I had left civilization far, far behind. … Will the next generation ever Nine John McConnell, Earth Day salmon species listed have the chance to experience the same Equinox, 4:23 pm pdt founder, born, 1905 as endangered, 1999 feeling of serenity and composure that comes when man faces the wilderness 27 28 29 30 31 alone?”

– William O. Douglas My Wilderness Oregon Badlands and Spring Basin Wilderness Areas designated, 2009

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Lake Abert. © Greg Vaughan

A p r i l sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Pelican and kayaker at . © Mark Nelson “This we know. The earth does not belong 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 to man, man belongs to earth. This we know. … Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever John Muir born, 1838 Good Friday Lyrid meteor shower Earth Day he does to the web, he does to himself.” Palm Sunday Passover (20/hour) First Earth Day, 1970

– Chief Sealth (Seattle) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Easter

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Whychus-Deschutes Canyon Proposed Wilderness. © Greg Burke

M a y sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cinco de Mayo Eta Aquarid meteor shower (10/hour) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Mother’s Day 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Ash-throated flycatcher. © Marylynn Diggs 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

“Wilderness is an area … where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain …” – From the Wilderness Act, 1964 29 30 31

Memorial Day

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Mickey Mountain, Table Mountain Wilderness Study Area © Tyson Fisher

J u n e sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Thompson’s Paintbrush. © Jim Davis 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 “Human presence is not the dominant element in . The open, sweeping terrain and measureless Lyrids meteor shower (10/hour) sky take center stage, while the profound silence is a blank sheet upon which the desert winds write their subtle 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 background music.”

– Al St. John Oregon’s Dry Side

Father’s Day Solstice, 10:16 am pdt 26 27 28 29 30

Oregon Wilderness Act Taylor Grazing Act passed, 1984 passed, 1934

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Trout Creek Mountains, Disaster Peak Wilderness Study Area. © Jim Davis

J u l y sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Independence Day Aphelion (Earth farthest from Sun) 8 am pdt

Western fence lizard. © Marylynn Diggs 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 “On the eastern escarpment of the Trout Creeks … the sight and sound of man (is) nearly non-existent. When Henry David Thoreau born, 1817 giant thunder-heads sail overhead, the landscape and skyscape combine to provide a breath-taking feeling of 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 spaciousness.”

Bruce Hayse Unobscured Horizons,Untravelled Trails: the Oregon High Desert

24 31 25 26 27 28 29 30

Delta Aquarid meteor Capricornid meteor Spotted owl listed as shower (20/hour) shower (15/hour) endangered species, 1990

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Van Horn Basin, . © John Lasseter

A u g u s t sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Perseid meteor shower (60/hour) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Corn lily. © Jim Davis

“The solitude, stillness, clear dry air, President Theodore Roosevelt created Malheur National harshly outlined hills … of Oregon’s Wildlife Refuge, 1908 forgotten corner provide a unique experience in the exploration of our 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 relationship with the earth.”

Bruce Hayse Unobscured Horizons,Untravelled Trails: Hiking the Oregon High Desert 28 29 30 31

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Oregon Badlands Wilderness. © Greg Burke

S e p t e m b e r sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3

Federal Wilderness Act passed, 1964 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

President Franklin Roosevelt designated Hart Mountain as National Antelope Labor Day Refuge, 1935 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Badlands mountain goat. © Brian Ouimette 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

“All things of the universe are miracles, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt designated each as profound as any.” a Wild & Scenic River, 1994 Equinox, 2:05 am pdt – Walt Whitman

(As if to affirm the wisdom of President Obama’s designation of the Badlands as Oregon’s most 25 26 27 28 29 30 recent Wilderness in March, 2009, a lone mountain goat inexplicably appeared in December, 2009.)

Rosh Hashanah

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Owyhee River, Owyhee Breaks Wilderness Study Area. © Sandy Lonsdale

O c t o b e r sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Congress passed Steens Mountain Cooperative Yom Kippur Federal Wild & Scenic Management & Protection Draconid meteor Rivers Act passed, 1968 Act, 2000 shower (10/hour) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Columbus Day observed Western columbine. © Dan Sherman

“In our last miles we finally begin to 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 see the promise of what lies ahead; the canyon splits open the plateau like a great wound in the earth’s surface. Not a mere Orionid meteor shower (20/hour) cut, but a deep laceration, exposing the flowing veins of water, which feed life 23 24 into this canyon. The land has been laid 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 bare for us to inspect the beating pulse of its heart.” John Day Fossil Beds Congress passed Oregon – Devon Comstock, June 2010 National Monument Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, (31) Halloween founded, 1974 1988

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Sutton Mountain Wilderness Study Area. © Tyler Roemer

N o v e m b e r sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3 4 5

President Reagan signed Omnibus Oregon Wild & Scenics Act, 1988

Oregon citizens vote to create state Scenic Waterways System, 1970 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Daylight Saving Time ends, 2 am Veterans Day 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Leonid meteor shower Cows removed from Owyhee (40/hour) Wild & Scenic River, 1999 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Sutton Mountain waterfall. © Jim Davis Thanksgiving

The Desert more often appears to us as space, not place. … Land is a state 27 28 29 30 of matter, landscape a state of mind, and the desert is notoriously resistant to colonization.

–William L. Fox The Void, the Grid, & the Sign onda wild desert 2011 • www.onda.org

Christmas Valley dunes. © Greg Vaughan

D e c e m b e r sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Geminid meteor shower (60/hour) Northern Saw-whet owl. © Gilbert Staender

“It is strange how deserts turn us into 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 believers. I believe in walking in a landscape of mirages, because you learn humility. I believe in living in a land of First Day of Chanukkah Solstice, 9:30 pm pst little water because life is drawn together.”

– Terry Tempest Williams Refuge 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Christmas Last Day of Chanukkah

onda wild desert 2011 • www.onda.org Oregon Natural Desert Association is working to protect Oregon’s desert jewels: Steens Mountain; Owyhee River Canyonlands; Hart Mountain and Oregon’s Outback; the Central Oregon Desert, and the John Day River Basin. We are lucky to have these gems in our onda backyard. You can help preserve these incomparable places by Wild Desert Calendar 2011 becoming a member of ONDA.

january willow creek february march cathedral rock april

may whychus-deschutes canyon june mickey mountain july trout creek mountains august pueblo mountains

september badlands wilderness october owyhee river november sutton mountain december christmas valley

ONDA Wild Desert Calendar 2011 is a publication of the Oregon Natural Desert Association. Copyrights to all photographs herein belong to the photographers. Special thanks to Greg Burke, John

Cain, Mark Chidlaw, Jim Davis, Daniella $ Marshall, Craig Miller, Mike Sequeira, 15.00 and the ONDA staff for their inspiration, copy writing, photo editing and hard Oregon Natural Desert Association work. ONDA also thanks Earth Friends 33 nw Irving Avenue Conservation Fund and Keen Footwear for Bend, Oregon 97701 helping make this calendar possible. 541.330.2638 | www.onda.org