Over a year ago I started revamping ONDA’s independent stewards program. Traditionally our independent stewards took a self-directed approach to monitoring eastern Oregon public lands, helping us and the Bureau of Land Management with Wilderness Study Area monitoring. I was looking to streamline it and make it more effective all across the board, but then COVID hit.

Traditionally ONDA engages hundreds of volunteers each year on a variety of group stewardship projects (I always led the trail work portions), but this group volunteer model was just not prudent during a pandemic, so we canceled most of our trips last year.

What do we do in 2021? When we started planning for this year we had no idea if the virus would still be here, still be impacting how we gather, still limiting our activities, still changing how we spend time outside. So, it seemed the independent stewards model could be the answer…could we mobilize hundreds of volunteers to do projects on their own out the in desert? Well, we are going to find out.

We will need hundreds to do all the work we have lined out for the year, which includes stewarding almost 100 miles of trail along or near the Oregon Desert Trail…and much much more.

Please take a few minutes to learn more about our program, and sign up if you have any time to add some purpose to your next desert adventure.