Oregon WildBlog

by Emma Gosser

As I stood in the middle of a dusty dirt road looking out across the Crooked River National Grasslands, I wondered how on earth I was going to find illegal ATV trails on this vast desert expanse. Though I knew there was enormous environmental importance to this landscape, to my untrained eyes there was nothing but sage, dirt, juniper and the occasional bird that flew across the skyline. Or so I thought. I soon discovered it was not hard to find illegal trails at all. They are everywhere. 

The story of Oregon's most famous wolf OR-7 (aka Journey) continues to be one of the most inspiring wildlife stories in Oregon's history. To capture this incredible tale, Southern Oregon author Beckie Elgin recently published a book with Oregon Wild business supporter Inkwater Press entitled Journey: The Amazing Story of OR-7, the Oregon Wolf that Made History.

By Ester Curini

I am an Italian artist. I live and work in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Public lands advocates claimed a crucial win last week! An outpouring of citizen opposition forced one of the nation’s most prominent public lands privatization boosters to withdraw support for his own bill calling for the sale of over 3 million acres of public lands across the west.The victory was an incredible example of people from across the country uniting in a common cause and making their voices heard to protect public lands.

From Paris to L.A. to Antarctica - all across the country and the world - women and advocates for human rights stood together this past Saturday to demand continued progress toward human equity, social justice, and reproductive health.

The world's most famous wolf has made it to another historic destination: literature. His story of dispersal from Northeast Oregon to find a mate and traveling over 3,000 miles across the Cascades and into California and back inspired young and old across the globe, including two authors from Oregon and California. You can now bring the story of OR-7 (Journey) into your home with the following beautiful publications.

A year ago, a band of militants descended on a National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, and with them came a cadre of national reporters. National reports were often simplistic, neglecting important nuances to the story and left readers and viewers with poor understanding of facts on the ground.

While local coverage by several Oregon outlets was more thorough and provided analysis, the one-year anniversary of the Malheur occupation provides an opportunity to reflect on key elements of the saga that flew under the radar.

Numerous nominations from the President-elect have created a flurry of emotions; anger, nervousness, despair, surprise, and some of them all at once. Most recently the nomination for the Department of Interior has shocked us again. 

We did it! 

Thanks to your voice, thousands of other Oregon Wild activists, partner organizations, and many more who have been working on this issue for years, the State Land Board delayed their vote on a proposal to privatize the Elliott State Forest. 

But we are not out of the woods yet!