To witness the McDermitt Caldera is to be moved. Supported by the east-flowing McDermitt Creek, sloping hills of sagebrush cradle native wildflowers and bunchgrasses. In spring, paintbrush awakens in crimson bursts alongside winks of purple lava aster. Bitterroot emerges, first in succulent leaves, then in white flowers nestled close to the ground. In blooms of yellow, hawksbeard unfurls.
Framed by the Oregon Canyon Mountains to the north and the Trout Creek Mountains to the west, the McDermitt Caldera is located in southeastern Oregon at the Nevada-Oregon border. A diversity of species roam these public lands, representing a remarkable biodiversity, and this area is vital to their existence. The McDermitt Caldera is one of the most important expanses of intact sagebrush steppe—a widespread yet fragile ecosystem characterized by abundant sagebrush—in Oregon’s high desert, making the caldera critical habitat for sagebrush-dependent species.
Additionally, the McDermitt Caldera lies within ancestral homelands of many Indigenous people, including the Burns Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, the Shoshone and Bannock tribes, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Not only is the area a site of great environmental importance, but it is also necessary for Tribal livelihoods and as a cultural resource. Fort McDermitt tribal descendants and others have since come together to form People of Red Mountain, a group focused on protecting these ancestral homelands and upholding their cultural values and traditions.
Essential Habitat
One of the several species that rely on healthy sagebrush ecosystems is the greater sage-grouse. Here in the McDermitt Caldera, greater sage-grouse are known to dance. Each spring, flaunting their tail feathers, male sage-grouse gather at dawn on sagebrush clearings used as mating arenas, known as leks. In a sort of choreography, they “display” to entice visiting females. With devotion, they return each day for weeks on end while female sage-grouse watch for the one. The area surrounding and including the McDermitt Caldera supports nearly 100 known leks, confirming the importance of this vast, healthy expanse of rolling sagebrush steppe to sage-grouse mating patterns.
Like greater sage-grouse, pronghorn also have distinctive seasonal patterns that rely on large expanses of undisturbed public lands like those found in the McDermitt Caldera. The fastest mammal in North America, pronghorn, are high desert spectacle; running at speeds close to 60mph, having evolved to outrun the now-extinct American cheetah. Accustomed to traveling long distances, pronghorn migrate across the high desert annually between winter and summer ranges, sometimes roaming more than 100 miles to find available food sources. Much of their range crosses through the McDermitt Caldera, where they rely on bunchgrasses and wildflowers in the summer. Similarly, pygmy rabbit, North America’s smallest rabbit species, directly depends on sagebrush as both a food source and as shelter, preferring to dig their burrows at the base of sagebrush shrubs.
In McDermitt Creek, Lahontan cutthroat trout find cool, clean refuge. Only 10% of Lahontan cutthroat trout’s original habitat range remains today, and with not many suitable habitats remaining for this species in the semi-arid Great Basin, the McDermitt Caldera is crucial to their survival. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said this population is necessary to ensure recovery of the species.
Other incredible species that can be found at the McDermitt Caldera include sagebrush lizard, golden eagle, and mule deer, among many others.
When further examining the fish and wildlife that call the McDermitt Caldera home, the landscape’s significance as a refugium comes into focus. Greater sage-grouse have suffered an 80% decline range-wide since 1965 due to habitat loss. Decades of conservation efforts have been made to recover pronghorn populations, and they continue to require attention now and into the future. The pygmy rabbit has recently been petitioned for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, and Lahontan cutthroat trout are listed as a federally “threatened,” both due to habitat loss in this region.
Disturbances to the habitats that support these species could intensify the precarity of their existence.
A Threatened Landscape
Now, all of this is at risk. On Dec. 8, 2025, the federal government approved the McDermitt Exploration Project, an industrialized mining exploration plan that would permanently degrade nearly 7,200 acres of high desert public lands on the Oregon side of the caldera. The plan allows Jindalee Lithium, a transnational corporation based in Australia, to drill 168 holes, build 21.5 miles of new roads and pump 18,000 gallons of groundwater daily, paving the way for the largest mine in Oregon.
These actions would devastate vital habitats that support imperiled species such as greater sage-grouse, pronghorn, pygmy rabbit and Lahontan cutthroat trout. Even conducting mineral exploration has a lasting impact; exploratory drilling disrupts species and removes native vegetation, especially sagebrush—which can take half a century or longer in the best conditions to recover.
The mining corporation still needs to obtain permits from Oregon state agencies before any drilling can move forward, so Oregon Natural Desert Association is calling on state agencies to exercise their authority to enforce Oregon’s strict environmental resource protections. Look out for a call to action from the organization coming on April 14 and sign on to its petition pressing these agencies to prioritize the long-term ecological health of this remarkable landscape.
At the McDermitt Caldera, a breathtaking host of wildlife depends on intact habitat to survive, while a number of native communities still use these sacred lands to uphold traditional practices. It poses the question: Is this really where we would like to see exploration for industrialized mining? Are we aware of what we risk losing?
—Mateo Reynaud is an ONDA volunteer and former ONDA intern. He recently graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA in Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies and Creative Writing.
This article appears in the Source April 23, 2026.
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