On Friday, October 4, 2024, the Oregon Natural Desert Association presents their Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour Event at the Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon (as well as a virtual version streamed online). This will be an unforgettable evening of captivating short films that address pressing environmental issues, highlight incredible work being done by activists around the world, and celebrate the beauty of our planet. Their carefully curated lineup will take the audience on a breathtaking journey through the natural world, showcasing awe-inspiring landscapes and emphasizing the urgency of protecting our wild places.
Join them before the show to chat with Oregon Natural Desert Association staff, learn about current advocacy and volunteer opportunities, buy raffle tickets, and catch up with fellow ONDA community members!
Founded in 1987, the Oregon Natural Desert Association is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to protect, defend, and restore the wild lands of eastern Oregon. The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) encourages people to get to know the desert and to take steps to conserve these public lands. ONDA is a non-profit organization that defends public lands from threats, partners with public and private land managers to preserve natural values, encourages the exploration of wild places, and restores lands and waters to give desert wildlife safe habitat in which to thrive
ONDA is the only conservation organization dedicated exclusively to preserving Oregon’s high desert. Their members and supporters live in Portland, Bend, all throughout Oregon state, across the country, and abroad. They envision a high desert in Oregon where eight million acres of public lands are conserved to ensure that fish and wildlife thrive and wild places exist for all people to treasure and explore, now and always.
Oregon Natural Desert Association’s conservation program protects the most spectacular places in Oregon’s high desert, including such treasured spots as Steens Mountain, the John Day River Basin, and the Owyhee Canyonlands. They support the fish and wildlife found within these wild areas, and they guide people in finding new ways to experience this rich natural legacy. The incredible, diverse scenery and ample recreation found in Oregon’s high desert enhances the high quality of life for Oregonians, who truly love to be outside. These public lands also provide important economic benefits for communities across Oregon, and so much more.
Oregon Natural Desert Association is the only group dedicated exclusively to securing the highest level of protection for wild lands and waters in Oregon’s high desert. Oregon Natural Desert Association’s strategic and effective enforcement of environmental laws has played a critical role in safeguarding Oregon’s desert public lands.
Oregon Natural Desert Association represents the interests of their members and supporters to land management agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service when decisions are being made about how to manage public lands.
Oregon Natural Desert Association sustains and enhances the health of Oregon’s high desert through stewardship and restoration. ONDA takes a holistic approach to conservation in Oregon’s high desert, pairing on-the-ground stewardship with efforts to protect large landscapes. ONDA partners with public land managers, Native American Tribes, and conservation landowners to undertake science-based restoration projects to increase habitat resiliency and provide long-term benefits to desert lands and waters. While much of this landscape is beautiful and pristine in many ways, over time human actions have negatively impacted some terrain. Their stewardship work restores these areas.
Hana Sant, Oregon Natural Desert Association’s Development Manager, says, “Hosting a Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour Event helps us by providing an opportunity to build our community of supporters by coming together to share in our love of Oregon’s high desert, and to watch films that inspire each of us to do what we can to advocate for the conservation of our planet.”
Sant’s favorite thing about putting on this event is “the opportunity to connect with long-time ONDA supporters as well as new ONDA members, and to share stories of resilience and hope in service of inspiring folks to continue showing up for causes they believe in.”
