HDC Home | Outings | Alerts | Grazing | Mining | Development | Vehicles | At-Risk Species | FAQs | About HDC

High Desert Environmental Action Alerts

High Desert Chair: Anne Mitchell

The High Desert Committee is a Conservation Committee of the Oregon Chapter of Sierra Club. The Committee works to protect and conserve the public wildlands in Oregon’s high desert administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

At this point in time (2009) we are celebrating 20 years of desert advocacy and the recent passage through Congress of the Omnibus Lands bill which will designate new wilderness in Oregon, including Spring Basin in the John Day drainage, Soda Mountain in southern Oregon, and the Badlands just east of Bend.

We hope to reinvigorate our campaign to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands (part of the Omnibus Lands bill included wilderness designation for the Idaho side of the Owyhee landscape). We also plan to increase our advocacy for smart and well planned alternative energy development in the High Desert.

---

Omnibus Lands Bill Passes Congress

Spring Basin along the John Day River

Spring Basin Wilderness Study Area lies along the John Day River a few miles west of the town of Fossil. It is adjacent to a unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and also to the Pine Creek Conservation Area managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs.

The area is significant for its geologic features, but also provides habitat for the typical variety of high desert wildlife. Spring Basin WSA at over 6000 acres is one of the few large tracts of public wildlands in the region and with proposed land exchanges, a wilderness area could exceed 8000 acres.

You can view a map of the Spring Basin Wilderness prepared by ONDA (Oregon Natural Desert Association).

Soda Mountain in Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

With the creation of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, 53,000 acres of this incredibly diverse bioregion received important protection, however, none of its backcountry was designated wilderness. Grazing is still permitted and a threat to the ecology of the land. Off road vehicle routes and even commercial logging could still be allowed in the monument. A coalition of environmental groups continues to advocate for permanent wilderness designation and protection for 23,000 acres of wildlands within the monument.

You can view a map of the Soda Mountain Wilderness prepared by the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council.

Badlands just east of Bend

The Badlands Wilderness Study Area just east of Bend is a geologic wonderland showcasing volcanic outcrops formed when ancient lava flows created enormse bubble like fractures. While it has a history of local support, ORV users have been opposed to it's designation.

You can view a map of the Badlands and info brochure produced by the BLM.

Write your Congressmen and thank them

We would encourage you to contact Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Greg Walden to thank them for their long standing efforts to designate these areas as protected wilderness. Although new to the national scene, Senator Jeff Merkley also voted for passage of the bill and his support for future wilderness legislation will be critical.

---

Steens Mountain Resource Management Plan

The Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000 required a management plan be written within four years. BLM combined this with an update of the land use plan for the surrounding area, creating the “Resource Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement for the Andrews Management Unit / Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area” (RMP). Through this whole process a broad group of environmental organizations worked together as the “Steens-Alvord Coalition” to help insure the area receive the protection it deserves. The documents below may provide some history regarding the issues effecting management of the public lands on Steens Mountain.

Steens-Alvord Coalition Citizens’ Alternative

You can read the final proposal advocated for by the Coalition as a Adobe pdf file (about 7 pages). This will give you a very clear idea of what this broad coalition of environmental groups proposed. We believed that the BLM preferred Alternative D would provide only minimal protection and that a reasonable alternative advocating meaningful protection was not offered to the public.

Steens-Alvord Coalition Tabloid

You can download a Adobe pdf file of the outreach media to read for background. This is a large file (1.7mb) but provides a good summary of the critical issues regarding this management plan for Steens Mountain and the surrounding areas, along with some nice photos.

---

If you are interested in participating more in this process, you are encouraged to attend one of the SMAC meetings and voice your support for protecting the wild character of Steens Mountain. More information on the SMAC is available at the Steens Mountain Advisory Council.

---

Write to Encourage Protection of the Owyhee

Your actions now will help protect the Owyhee Canyonlands as well as encouraging continued protection for Steens Mountain - Alvord Basin.

Please contact: Senator Wyden