Renee Schiavone, Author at The Source

High Desert Speaker Series Coming This Winter

Exciting presentations covering geology and Tribal history

by Renee Schiavone February 4, 2026February 4, 2026

Oregon Natural Desert Association’s 2026 High Desert Speaker Series invites audiences across Oregon and beyond to uncover the landscapes, geology and cultural histories of eastern Oregon through a pair of engaging online talks this winter. Registration is now open for the free, online public series, which runs from February through March. The High Desert Speaker […]

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Birds of Malheur

A guide to observing migrating birds at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

by Renee Schiavone January 8, 2025July 15, 2025

Few experiences will put you in touch with the rhythms of the natural world quite like watching an avian migration. In Oregon, we’re lucky to witness one of North America’s greatest animal migration paths right in our backyard. Each spring and fall, billions of birds migrate along the Pacific Flyway, a route stretching from Alaska […]

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Bringing Back Storied Sheep

Oregon’s high desert is home to fickle populations of stately California bighorn sheep

by Renee Schiavone June 19, 2024December 8, 2024

Climbing to the top of 8,017-foot Warner Peak in the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, my legs shake when I look over the edge. Cliffs and crags descend more than 3,000 feet to the valley floor from which I just climbed. From this perspective, I gain a new appreciation for the rugged habitat of one […]

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Nature’s Ecosystem Engineers

What we can learn from beaver about keeping desert waterways healthy

by Renee Schiavone February 14, 2024May 5, 2025

In late fall, while pronghorn prepare for winter migration and sagebrush lizards enter hibernation, beavers are hard at work. They’re ferrying across waterways, cutting down streamside trees with their teeth and submerging their stock into shallow water. Neither hibernators nor migrators, they’ll subsist off this wet pantry of live wood and green bark until spring […]

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See Streamside Trees Aflame

Where to find vibrant autumn leaves igniting eastern Oregon’s waterways

by Renee Schiavone November 8, 2023July 30, 2024

Following a relentlessly smoky summer in Bend, a clean fall breeze recently reminded of all things good in the world. In one word: fall. In many words: Things like the temperature dropping just slightly, leaves rustling on trees, flecks of red and gold peeking out from a sea of evergreens. They’re nature’s haptics stimulating our […]

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Oregon’s Prairie Ghost

The resilient pronghorn has raced through millennia, but their future is in our hands

by Renee Schiavone June 7, 2023May 16, 2025

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) may be the most recognizable of all wildlife in Oregon’s vast sagebrush sea. Commonly — but mistakenly — also referred to as “antelope,” this migratory species is an indicator of the health and resiliency of their sagebrush habitats. If pronghorn populations are faring well, then likely so is their ecosystem. Where pronghorn […]

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Photographing the Desert

Experienced local photographers offer pointers for capturing the beauty of Oregon’s high desert

by Renee Schiavone May 10, 2023June 13, 2024

The high desert landscape that covers 27.6 million acres of Oregon is packed with opportunities to take profound photos. Photographers can fill a frame with impressive canyons, alkali flats, sagebrush seas, herds of antelope and – if you’re lucky – the occasional big horn sheep. To gather a range of insight on what makes for […]