Spring Basin Broadwalk
Dates: September 18-22, 2008
Location: Near Fossil, OR
Cost: $165 - includes 4-nights lodging at the Hancock Field Station and all meals Thursday dinner thru Monday breakfast

Spring Basin photo courtesy of Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Join us for our first ever Oregon Broadwalk. Located in the high desert of central Oregon, the Spring Basin proposed wilderness encompasses rolling hills of sagebrush and dramatic rock spires where you’ll find sensitive archaeological sites and endangered plants and animals.

Local landowners, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) have worked together to develop a Wilderness proposal that could permanently protect Spring Basin. With widespread local support for the proposal, the future of a Spring Basin Wilderness rests in the hands of Congress.

Our base for most of the weekend is the Hancock Field Station, a rustic facility run by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) with “cabins”(provide your own bedding), showers and a dining hall where we can meet and eat.

We will gather Thursday afternoon to get acquainted. Friday will find us day hiking in Spring Basin Wilderness Study Area led by local leaders and with a range of options of difficulty/length. That evening ONDA staff will tell us about area wilderness and conservation issues. Saturday we’ll have a work day pulling fence on the northern border between Pine Creek and Spring Basin Wilderness Study Area. Regional and national wilderness issues will be our evening topics. Sunday we’ll be hiking and exploring and learning about the area some more. Watch the website for more details. Come join the fun!

Information about the Field Station including weather, cabins, restrooms, and the dining hall begins on page 4 of OMSI’s camp document at www.omsi.org/education/oss/pdf/OMSICamps.pdf

For more information about Spring Basin visit ONDA's website.

National Public Lands Day Projects
Dates: September 27 and/or 28, 2008
Location: See below

Help Broads Recapture Utah! Plan to join Broads, Red Rock Forests and other volunteers along with the federal land managing agencies of San Juan County, Utah to complete several projects that will restore and protect the land from off-road vehicle abuses. Plans are being finalized but projects will include:

Manti-La Sal National Forest – We'll be working on the boundary between the BLM & Forest in Arch Canyon, clearly delineating different areas for non-motorized and motorized access and conducting trail rehabilition in the roadless area of the canyon. The worksite is 7.5 miles one-way from the mouth of Arch Canyon. Volunteers may choose to backpack in on Friday, the workday will be Saturday, and backpack out on Sunday.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area – This easy-to-access area near Hite Marina called Farley Canyon was trashed by dirt bikes over Memorial Day weekend. We’ll rake tracks to deter more abuse. This is likely a one-day project.

Monticello Field Office, BLM – A weekend of work awaits us on Cedar Mesa and near Comb Ridge. We’ll post as closed "woodcutter created" roads that are incursions into Wilderness Study Areas and restore some damage. We’ll also help fence out ORVs from impacting archaeological sites. Come for one day or both.

Great Old Broads for Wilderness staff and many volunteers will be camping at the BLM primitive campsite just south of Hwy 95 and west of Comb Ridge, in Comb Wash. From the south edge of Blanding, UT you will turn west onto Hwy 95 towards Lake Powell/Natural Bridges. Travel 14 miles. You will pass through Comb Ridge and at the bottom of the first drainage turn left (south) onto CR ????, which is a dirt road passable by cars. Our campsite will be near the BLM outhouse. Look for the Great Old Broads for Wilderness banner. We'll be there Friday late afternoon through Sunday afternoon.

Everyone will need to be self-contained for camping in a remote location and have plenty of food and water. Bring your own libations and anything you'd want to share with the group. Bring something to share for a potluck dinner Saturday evening. Great Old Broads for Wilderness will provide dessert. If you'd like help with carpools, let us know.

For more information check the National Public Lands Day website at www.publiclands.org. You may contact the agency project liaison to get more info but please let Broads know if you plan to join the effort and which project interests you. Call 970-385-9577 or e-mail membership@greatoldbroads.org to register. Bring your friends!

THIS SHOULD BE HARD WORK BUT VERY REWARDING AND FUN!

Wild for Wilderness Online Auction
Dates: October 27-Nov.16, 2008
Just in time for your holiday shopping or a bit of self-indulgence, Great Old Broads for Wilderness is hosting our fourth annual Wild for Wilderness Online Auction fundraiser. Here's your chance to make shopping both easy and meaningful, because 100% of the auction monies raised will be used to support Great Old Broads' important wilderness advocacy work. 

If you would like to donate an item to our online auction, please click here or email anne@greatoldbroads.org.

What Is A Broadwalk?

A Broadwalk is first and foremost a whole lot of fun!  If you have never been on a Broadwalk, this year offers several locations and several different places to join us.  Broadwalks are a place where you will meet other amazing Broads, learn about wilderness issues particular to a specific area through on-the-ground exploration and discussion with folks who know the area and the issues.

Every Broadwalk takes on its own unique character, but we usually begin gathering on Thursday afternoon to get acquainted and set up camp. Things really kick off with dinner and a speaker from the local grassroots organization to frame the weekend’s events and purpose. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we spend our time hiking with local guides in proposed wilderness or threatened landscapes to learn first-hand about the place. Usually we build in some sort of service project on one of the days – hauling old culvert, pulling noxious weeds, inventorying potential wilderness, brushing trails, monitoring ORV impacts—the possibilities are endless.  Each day at some point we have more local speakers to share information on the area’s history, natural history, wilderness issues, music, writings, photography, etc. We really rub elbows with locals on both sides of an issue, with agency land managers, and with other wilderness advocates. We also often get to talk to the media about our group and the wilderness that we work to protect. The event ends on Monday after breakfast, sometimes with a meeting at government offices, sometimes just with farewell to friends, old and new.

Meals have become a group event either catered or prepared by a camp cook, which allows us more time in the field and more time to get acquainted with each other. Trail lunches are left to each participant to bring. Delicious food, drink, and camaraderie are an essential part of our weekends! There is nothing like spending time with a group of Great Old Broads!

For those who prefer not to camp there often are local motels where you can stay and just join us each day for our activities, speakers, and meals. We can help folks connect with others who are driving or flying into the area to share rides or rental cars. Sometimes folks join us for just part of an event which is generally OK as long as we have enough space and know which meals and nights to plan on.