Oregon Desert
People have always chased around deserts looking for pots of gold. Such people have missed seeing the only real gold the desert offers—an occasional rainbow, hundreds of fantastic sunsets, interesting and secretive animals, pungent aromas of desert shrubs, droplets of dew on a hairy leaf, and a thousand other delights. As with every generation, we are duty bound to preserve all these for desert lovers yet born.
Denzel and Nancy Ferguson
See also my Wilderness, Sagebrush Sea, Livestock Grazing and Oregon Desert Guide: 70 Hikes pages.
According to the Oregon Natural Desert Association the Oregon Desert has:
• 209,350 acres of congressionally designated Wilderness;
• 2,685,988 acres of official Wilderness Study Areas; and
• 4,650,000 acres of potential Wilderness Study Areas (lands that qualify for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System).
There are additional portions of the Oregon Desert, that while not wilderness quality, are suitable for designation as national monuments, national wildlife refuges, national conservation areas, wild and scenic rivers and/or other congressional designations.
Larch Occasional Papers
I produce a series of aperiodic papers on topics of interest to me (and I hope at least some others).
• Establishing a System of and a Service for Deserts and Grasslands of the United States (with Mark Salvo) (#6)
Articles
Wallowa County Chieftain Columns
• It's Time to Replace the Bureau of Land Management suggests new name and mission for the BLM.
• Sage Grouse: The Spotted Owl of the Desert. The title is explanation enough.
Changes in the Desert Wind was perhaps the first piece I published about the Oregon Desert. It was published in Seriatim: The Journal of Ecotopia.
Livestock Grazing in the National Park and Wilderness Preservation Systems was co-authored with Mark Salvo.
Links
The Sagebrush Sea Campaign of Wild Earth Guardians is a leader in the effort to protect, conserve and restore the sagebrush steppe.
Oregon Natural Desert Association is the premier organization dedicated to the conservation of the Oregon Desert.