What is the “Badlands”? Roughly speaking, it’s an area of desert just east of Bend. It’s mostly desert and rock, sagebrush and juniper, and can be very beautiful to those who know its contours and creatures.

I find myself dismayed because of the yellow signs popping up all over Bend – dismayed not because I don’t want to protect the Badlands but dismayed because I do. I live adjacent to BLM land that connects right up to the Badlands. I wonder who those well-meaning people are with those darn yellow signs in their yards. My friends and I are out on the desert at least weekly in winter or daily in the warmer months. Usually we’re riding our horses or walking. Some of us geocache; some of us just enjoy the scenery and the camaraderie of riding among the desert and its critters.

It’s rare to encounter anyone in most of the desert east of Bend. There are a few trails frequented by bikers and some areas that, during the appropriate season, are frequented by hunters. I support the rights of the mountain bikers to be out there as well as the hikers, riders and joggers.

ATVers have already seen their access to the Badlands cut off, and actually I didn’t mind sharing the trails with them either. Responsible, law-abiding citizens of the state of Oregon should all be able to enjoy Central Oregon’s natural beauty.

So why am I dismayed over the yellow signs that say “Protect Badlands Wilderness”? Maybe I should put up my own signs that also say “Protect the Badlands,” but my signs will be green. Green for the color of grass for a grass- roots effort to protect the Badlands. The folks who put up the yellow signs (ONDA) want the federal or state government to step in and protect the Badlands by giving it an official wilderness designation. I’d prefer that the people who actually use the Badlands help protect the desert – not by helping pass restrictive, unnecessary legislation but by carrying a garbage bag to pick up trash. And by carrying a cell phone to call the sheriff or BLM when we find individuals out there driving over stuff they are not supposed to. Vandalism and trash are left behind only by those few individuals who have no respect for the desert, or any environment for that matter, and wouldn’t respect the signs or fences that would come with the wilderness designation anyway. And everyone using public land needs to pick up after themselves. If you can pack it in full, you can pack it out empty — pretty simple, really.

Bottom line, the official designation of a “wilderness” carries very restrictive rules about access. Look it up at www.wilderness.net.

No bikes, no geocache, no impact of any kind and full historical restoration to the way it looked 200 years ago. Keep in mind that the Badlands has already been designated a WSA since 1980, and with that protective designation, most of us still have pretty much free access to BLM. Most of it already still looks like it did 200 years ago.

Seems like we’d be using a bulldozer for a job better done with a shovel. I want the Badlands protected, but I don’t want it protected from the moms with baby joggers, for heaven’s sake. All wheeled vehicles are prohibited in a wilderness-designated area. The Bulletin stated it very well in an editorial, dated March 28: “The current status gives Central Oregonians something they shouldn’t be so quick to surrender: a comparatively flexible wilderness.”

We all want our natural areas preserved. It’s how we protect them — and from whom — that we disagree on. I’ve written Sen. Ron Wyden and you can, too. Do your homework … let him and all our Oregon politicians know what side of this fence you fall on. And do it soon. They need to hear from you now. The federal government behemoth rolls slowly but inexorably once it gets going.

And ONDA, please put away your yellow signs. We actually are on the same side. Karen Bish Bend