Some ONDA guys (Oregon Natural Desert Association -- a group of which I'm an active member/supporter) did a trip in the West Little Owyhee, Louse Canyon, and got the story and photos published Friday in the New York Times:
Bivouacking in Oregon’s Back of Beyond
Here's a link to many more photos from that trip that didn't make the NYT story.
I've hiked up the West Little Owyhee myself, back in 1993, from it's confluence with the main Owyhee -- a great trip, but we didn't explore nearly as thoroughly as these guys did. This is in extreme-south-east Oregon with tributaries in Idaho and Nevada...an area that makes the Alvord desert seem crowded.
Yesterday the Sierra Club picked up on this and spread a call for action -- protection -- to it's huge membership, and today ONDA posted on its Facebook page a link to a web page for Owyhee Canyonlands protection -- a multi-group campaign, not just ONDA.
Now, it's likely that such publicity will increase visitation to this little-known, little-visited area...and that by itself is not good for my personal enjoyment. But the same could have been said of Yellowstone and Yosemite back in their pre-protected days, and those national treasures would not have received the protection they did without national support, and that required national publicity. Local "stewardship" of national lands that isn't backed by protective national legislation frequently doesn't protect wild values; it's too easy for economic forces to raise the priority of resource-extractive commercial activities (mining, ranching, logging).
Anyway...if you're interested in protection of the Owyhee Canyons country, read up about it and, yes, visit it! Yes, even you Californians!
(OK, in the interest of full-disclosure, I'm actually a native of California, but since I've lived more than half my life in Oregon I've become a naturalized citizen of this state.
)
Bivouacking in Oregon’s Back of Beyond
Here's a link to many more photos from that trip that didn't make the NYT story.
I've hiked up the West Little Owyhee myself, back in 1993, from it's confluence with the main Owyhee -- a great trip, but we didn't explore nearly as thoroughly as these guys did. This is in extreme-south-east Oregon with tributaries in Idaho and Nevada...an area that makes the Alvord desert seem crowded.
Yesterday the Sierra Club picked up on this and spread a call for action -- protection -- to it's huge membership, and today ONDA posted on its Facebook page a link to a web page for Owyhee Canyonlands protection -- a multi-group campaign, not just ONDA.
Now, it's likely that such publicity will increase visitation to this little-known, little-visited area...and that by itself is not good for my personal enjoyment. But the same could have been said of Yellowstone and Yosemite back in their pre-protected days, and those national treasures would not have received the protection they did without national support, and that required national publicity. Local "stewardship" of national lands that isn't backed by protective national legislation frequently doesn't protect wild values; it's too easy for economic forces to raise the priority of resource-extractive commercial activities (mining, ranching, logging).
Anyway...if you're interested in protection of the Owyhee Canyons country, read up about it and, yes, visit it! Yes, even you Californians!
(OK, in the interest of full-disclosure, I'm actually a native of California, but since I've lived more than half my life in Oregon I've become a naturalized citizen of this state.
