Welcome to the Juniper Group of the Sierra Club!

Dedicated to preserving Central Oregon's environment, natural resources, and quality of life. The Juniper Group encompasses most of Central and Eastern Oregon, including Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, and Wallowa counties.

The Juniper Group News Headlines are on this page below.

However, there is much more to get your blood stirring about how our forests, deserts, and water resources are being managed on the Volunteer Action Alerts and Positions and Resources pages. We hope the information on this site will make you a better informed citizen and inspire you to join us.

Our goal is to keep the forests like this ...
(Photo by Marilyn Miller)

Not THIS!
(Photo by Marilyn Miller)

Juniper Group Headlines

McKay Off Road Vehicle Closure Extended

The Forest Service has decided to extend the McKay Off Road Vehicle closure for another year until July 2009.  This is in response to Juniper Group efforts during the last several years in alliance with other local conservation organizations, such as the Friends of McKay, to document the damage caused by Off Road Vehicles in this natural forest ecosystem and Steelhead waterway.  Negotiations with the Forest Service are in progress to formally allow volunteer group participation in monitoring violations of this closure and organizing restoration efforts in the area.  Opportunities to participate will be posted here as they develop.

Thorn Timber Sale Settlement - Final!

May 23, 2008 - John Day, OR - Negotiations by a diverse set of conservation groups, mill owners, logging interests, elected County Officials, and community leaders concerning the Shake Table and Egley Fires (155,000 acres) in eastern Oregon produced an agreement that protects thousands of acres of potential wilderness, 30,000 acres of old growth forest while providing wood products and jobs in economically depressed Grant and Harney Counties of eastern Oregon. Months of discussions and negotiations by the various interests led to the agreement that was inked on Thursday, May 22, 2008.

This unique agreement grew out of collaborative discussions between the many interests that have been at odds for decades. The goal of this agreement is benefit local communities by providing economic activity focused primarily on addressing hazards along roadways and campgrounds and by protecting old growth forests and roadless areas for fish, wildlife and recreation.

See the Conservation Press Release for more details on the agreement, and the General Press Release to read statements by those who were involved in reaching this milestone agreement. Those commenting include Senator Wyden, Governor Kulongoski, county officials, and conservation organization representatives, including our own Asante Riverwind. The full text of the settlement Memorandum of Understanding and Settlement Agreement is available on the Positions and Resources page.

Also, see the Volunteer Action Alerts page for a summary of the issues appealed, and the Positions and Resources page for the appeal document that initiated the agreement discussions. Thanks for all your help and support!!

Senator Wyden Announces Badlands Wilderness Legislation

On Tuesday, May 27, at 10:00 AM, Senator Wyden held a press event at the Badlands to announce that he will introduce Badlands Wilderness legislation when Congress reconvenes the following week.  See the Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) website for more details on this milestone event and for how you can further support the effort by sending a thank you email to Senator Wyden.

Volunteers Urgently Needed!

The Bush Administration is inundating us with timber sales in many guises, especially fire suppression. Many of these are initially ill conceived, such as the Thorn sale below.  The Volunteer Action Alerts page has a summary for many of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management actions that impact the environment.  Even more detail is provided in the many comments and appeals documents available on the Positions and Resources page. To conduct field surveys, write detailed and accurate comments, file comments and appeals, then follow-up to insure what is being done is what was agreed to, is time consuming and requires considerable expertise in several professions. 

The Juniper Group and Oregon Chapter needs your help if you have skills in the following areas:

• Wildlife
• Aquatics
• Soils
• Restoration
• Renewable Energies
• Electrical Generation Systems
• Legal

We will pair people up with experienced people to develop your expertise. To volunteer for any of these areas, email either Asante Riverwind or Gretchen Valido. More information on volunteering is available from the Volunteer Form.

Sisters Aspen Lakes Destination Resort

A Sisters developer could be the first in the state to attempt to convert an existing housing subdivision to a destination resort. Never mind that the proposal doesn't conform to Deschutes County's comprehensive plan. Or that the Aspen Lakes Golf resort project clearly fails to meet Goals 6 and 8 of state destination resort guidelines. The developer contends that "the proposed text amendment will have no effect upon the air, water and land resources quality in Deschutes County." But the property for the project comes within .16 miles of Whychus Creek, a federally-designated Wild and Scenic River upstream. The environmental impacts of a large lodge, hundreds of houses and other amenities there promise to be devastating for the creek, since the source of water for the hundreds of new housing and lodging units proposed will be the aquifer which recharges Whychus. The Juniper Group has submitted a letter to the Deschutes County Planning Commission opposing the amendment.

For more details on this issue and information on how you can join in opposition to another destination resort and a serious weakening of the Deschutes County development codes, see the full Aspen Lakes article on the Volunteer Action Alerts page. Or, email Merry Ann Moore.

June 13 Update:

the Deschutes County Planning Commission voted yesterday 4-2 to decline the developer request to change county code to allow their clustered rural subdivision to a resort.  A summary of concerns by Commissioner Brenda Pace carried the day, but more narrowly than the vote reflects.  Three of the six voting commissioners stated they are in favor of the conversion, but not necessarily by the means of a text amendment.  See additional detail on this update on the Volunteer Action Alerts page.

Volunteers Needed To Remove Invasive Plants In Oregon Wilderness

The Juniper Group Sierra Club plans to initiate invasive plant removal projects in Oregon wilderness lands. Four individual wilderness areas have been identified for this project. These are the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, the North Fork John Day Wilderness in the Umatilla National Forest, the Black Canyon Wilderness in the Ochoco National Forest, and the Three Sisters Wilderness in the Deschutes National Forest. These areas, amongst others, have been identified as areas with intensive threats from encroaching invasive plants. These areas will be addressed selectively this summer.

The Sierra Club is looking for volunteers to participate in this rewarding activity. Weed pulls will be organized mostly as day outings and coordinated with the Forest Service staff responsible for invasive plant projects. The local Sierra Club is organizing this activity and facilitating the weed pulls in wilderness areas. All volunteers are welcome. Please contact: Fred Tanis, 541-385-3144, tanisfred@hotmail.com.