Articles & Resources

This past fall, we were concerned to see a series of projects proposing large tree logging across a total of 73,000 acres on the Ochoco National Forest.

What do we want Deschutes County to look like in 20 years? The County is asking for your input on its draft update to the Comprehensive Plan.

On August 31, a federal judge made a sweeping recommendation to set aside an illegal Forest Service rule change made under the Trump administration.

Today, a federal judge made a sweeping recommendation to set aside an illegal Forest Service change to the Eastside Screens - a longstanding set of rules to protect old growth on six national forests in Eastern Oregon and Washington.

Will the Forest Service choose to be a dedicated partner on wildlife crossing projects in Central Oregon?

We’ve been monitoring the Green Ridge Project proposed by the Forest Service since 2017. This project involves thinning and logging on nearly 25,000 acres of national forest just north of Sisters in the Metolius Watershed. 

Environmental groups, including LandWatch, delivered more than 122,000 public comments urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to protect mature and old-growth forests and trees on federal public lands from logging as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.

Forests pull carbon out of the atmosphere, and it accumulates in living trees and soil. In this way, mature forests act as carbon sinks, where the world’s forests absorb a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 per year. Let the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management know large trees are worth more standing.

Determined to protect Oregon’s biggest trees east of the Cascades, LandWatch and five other environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service over its decision to allow logging of large and old trees in national forests across Central and Eastern Oregon.

For immediate release. Determined to save Oregon’s biggest trees that remain, LandWatch and five other environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service over its decision to allow logging of large and old trees on national forests across Central and Eastern Oregon.

What's happening behind the scenes? This week, we've got a series of on-the-ground updates for Central Oregon.

If left to age, the mature, large trees in Oregon’s eastern forests can play a big role in combating climate change. In a study on national forest land in Oregon’s forests east of the Cascade Range, large-diameter trees accounted for only 3% of trees but stored 42% of the total above-ground carbon.

What happened along Phil’s trail should never happen again in Oregon’s national forests. Despite the public outcry and demands to leave these big trees standing, the marked trees were logged last week. Like you, we are devastated by this news.

Why are the biggest, oldest trees marked for removal in the Deschutes National Forest?

Two recently released forest service project plans have caught our eye. The Green Ridge Project and the Klone Management Project both seek to weaken protections for mule deer habitat by reducing deer hiding coverage below 30%.

We began monitoring the Green Ridge Project near the Metolius Basin in 2017. Now, the current plan preferred by the Sisters’ Ranger District would impact 19,991 acres with thinning and logging throughout the entire project landscape. Take action for the forest today!

Listen to Dirty Freehub's recent podcast episode to hear more about LandWatch's work in the Ochocos. In this episode, Rory Isbell discusses the importance of migration corridors and riparian areas for Redband Trout and elk, along with our recent victory to protect wildlife habitat in the Ochoco National Forest.

In September of 2020, we watched wildfires ignite across Oregon in one of the most devastating fire seasons on record. How can we plan for a safer future in our fire-adapted landscape?

This past January, just days before the inauguration of President Biden, a President Trump political appointee in Washington D.C. signed a last-minute decision to roll back protections for big trees on six National Forests in Central and Eastern Oregon.

On Monday, June 14, a settlement was reached between Central Oregon LandWatch, Oregon Wild, and the U.S. Forest Service to exclude sensitive riparian habitat from a proposed logging project in the Ochoco National Forest.

After 25 years of protection from logging, big trees on our public lands are once again threatened. The biggest trees make up only 3% of our forests. We should be protecting them, not cutting them down.

On January 24, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed LandWatch’s and co-petitioners’ win at the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) concerning Deschutes County’s attempt to rezone 710 acres of farmland for sprawling luxury development.

LandWatch prevailed at Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeal in appeals of Deschutes County’s decision to approve Thornburgh Resort’s Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan (FWMP).

What do we want Deschutes County to look like in 20 years? The County is asking for your input on its draft update to the Comprehensive Plan.

Recently, LandWatch prevailed in a community effort to halt yet another instance of development interests seeking to convert agricultural land into rural sprawl.

Today, a federal judge made a sweeping recommendation to set aside an illegal Forest Service change to the Eastside Screens - a longstanding set of rules to protect old growth on six national forests in Eastern Oregon and Washington.

On August 9, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) reversed their approval of LandWatch’s proposed amendments to the county code that would have limited new, luxury destination resorts in Deschutes County.

Here are some exciting updates about how we’re helping make Complete Communities happen in our community, right now.

After years of sustained advocacy, improvements to the Midtown crossings are coming - and soon!

LCDC unanimously adopts new rules that will guide future development in Oregon’s largest urban areas.

If you want to help make our communities safer, healthier, and more pedestrian-friendly, this is a pivotal moment to make your voice heard.

There is a housing shortage across the country, driving up costs and limiting available housing options for residents in cities and towns nationwide. Bend is no exception. HB 2001 requires most cities in Oregon, including Bend, to allow more middle housing options within city limits.

We’ve got a community vision for Hawthorne Avenue and connecting the Bend Central District to downtown. Together, we can make this vision come to life. Learn more about the Hawthorne Bridge and find out how you can support the project.

We’ve been taught to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but to grow sustainably, we also need to reimagine to grow sustainably. Getting a new plastic bag every time you go to the grocery store wastes plastic, so we try to reduce waste by reusing sturdy bags we already have. The same principle applies to the land beneath us.

As cities and towns across Central Oregon grow, we need infrastructure to accommodate that growth without compromising livability.

On Wednesday, March 17th, the Bend City Council adopted six goals with promising strategies to achieve them.

Your voice was heard loud and clear! Last month, we asked you to help us weigh in on the Bend City Council’s goals for the next two years.

Things are moving quickly with the City of Bend's Core Area planning process, which aims to create an Urban Renewal District in the Bend Central District and surrounding areas by August of this year.

The City of Bend is in the process of determining what projects would be funded through a potential transportation bond measure, and they are proposing to slash funding for Midtown Pedestrian Crossings in half from the initial recommendation.

Honey I Shrunk the BCD drew hundreds of neighbors, business owners, developers and community leaders to reimagine the Bend Central District together in a fun and exciting setting last week!

The Transportation System Plan (TSP) Steering Committee will review the first draft of Bend's new TSP at their meeting on Thursday. The TSP will be the guiding document for transportation in Bend over the next 20 years. Any new transportation projects built in the City over the next 20 years, including transit, bike lanes, sidewalks, and road projects will be included in this plan. Learn more here.

he BCD Initiative advocates for a safe, inclusive, and community-oriented transformation in the Bend Central District. We aren't just here to talk about the community vision - we want to show you how public investment has catalyzed real changes in other cities around Oregon.

For more than a decade, Central Oregon LandWatch has been concerned about the risk of catastrophic wildfire in the forested area next to the west side of Bend.  Most of this land would have been developed at urban levels had it come in with the City of Bend’s 2009 Urban Growth Boundary proposal to expand the city by more than 8,400 acres. Instead, our advocacy helped reduce the approved expansion by 70% by increasing densities inside the existing city boundaries.

The City of Bend has completed Phase 1 of its Transportation System Planning (TSP) process. Phase 1 identified a Citywide Transportation Framework, which includes projects and programs that principally affect the City’s arterial and collector system and transportation patterns in the City as a whole. The Citywide Transportation Framework will serve as the basis for Phases 2 and 3 of Bend’s Transportation Plan.

As the City of Bend moves forward with its “Core Area" Planning, we are preparing for the next steps in engaging the community to advocate for a vibrant, healthy, and resilient mixed-use neighborhood through the BCD Initiative

Central Oregon LandWatch received a $100,000 grant from Meyer Memorial Trust to continue work on the BCD Initiative, which is building broad support for policies and programs that promote the community’s vision for a vibrant, healthy, and resilient mixed-use neighborhood in the Bend Central District.

The City of Bend is proposing changes to its Comprehensive Plan that would allow more density in the Residential Standard Zone (RS) by permitting duplexes and triplexes (referred to as "plexes") on smaller lots. 

Thanks in large part to our advocacy, the Westside Transect is a new concept for Central Oregon that is being used to plan development on Bend’s western edge where we are at most risk of wildfire sweeping into town from the Cascade Mountain forests.

As development pressures grow in high-risk areas, we must consider every new development in the WUI carefully. Smart planning that takes wildfire risk into account will help avoid unnecessary loss of life and homes, risk to our health, and endangerment of firefighters.

We gave Bend's Millennial leaders the chance to design their ideal version of NE Hawthorne Ave at the Bend Chamber's first ever Young Professionals Summit.

As people continue to move here, the Bend Central District is our best hope for Central Oregon to grow into a place we want to keep calling home.

The City of Bend is requesting public input as they plan their next Transportation System Plan.  The Plan will be the guiding document for transportation in Bend over the next 20 years.  

The Franklin underpass is a key connection between east and west Bend, but it suffers from flooding during high volume rainstorms. The BCD Initiative's Streetscapes Committee made recommendations for improving streetscapes and saving the city money on planned infrastructure projects. The Bulletin reported on these recommendations when the underpass flooded on May 28, 2018.

This is a big step toward the BCD's transformation into a healthy, vibrant, and resilient mixed use neighborhood with safe connections between east and west

Recently, LandWatch prevailed in a community effort to halt yet another instance of development interests seeking to convert agricultural land into rural sprawl.

A win at the Land Use Board of Appeals! Stopping industrial sprawl between Bend and Redmond.

On March 23, the Deschutes County Planning Commission voted 3 to 1 in favor of recommending approval of Central Oregon LandWatch’s application to amend the county’s zoning code to limit new destination resort development.

LandWatch recently celebrated a win at the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). In February, LUBA ruled in LandWatch’s favor regarding a decades-old facility on land outside Sisters. This win sets an important precedent by invalidating a misinterpretation of state and local land use law and will help prevent fragmentation of the agricultural land base in Deschutes County.

Industrial sprawl between Bend and Redmond? Not on our watch.

We filed an appeal to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals over 142 acres in Jefferson County.

We're going to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

On January 4, Central Oregon LandWatch filed a Notice of Intent to Appeal the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) decision to remove agricultural land protections on 710 acres near Terrebonne.

A new destination resort in Crook County is officially off the books.

A letter from Ben Gordon, Executive Director

On August 17, Deschutes County Commissioners will determine the fate of 710 acres in the Lower Bridge Valley near Terrebonne.

On August 17, Deschutes County Commissioners will determine the fate of 710 acres in the Lower Bridge Valley near Terrebonne.

After nearly five years of ongoing appeals, we are happy to announce a victory for farmland in Jefferson County! Last month, the Jefferson County Planning Commission denied an application for development on agricultural land just south of Madras. 

Early this spring, LandWatch testified in opposition to a proposal to remove agricultural land protections on 710 acres near Terrebonne, to rezone the property for rural residential development. We took a stand alongside neighboring farmers and ranchers to protect this area for farm use. Here is the update.

Determined to protect Oregon’s biggest trees east of the Cascades, LandWatch and five other environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service over its decision to allow logging of large and old trees in national forests across Central and Eastern Oregon.

On April 19, 2022, Central Oregon LandWatch filed an appeal to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) over an application related to a proposed sewer project in Tumalo.

An application to rezone 710-acres from farmland to rural residential is scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday.

Our role as watchdog is to sound the alarm and draw attention to threats to the quality of life of our region and the very land beneath us.

If you visited a produce stand in Central Oregon this past summer, you likely came across local vegetables, herbs, and seeds grown every year in Jefferson County.

LUBA decides in favor of LandWatch’s challenge to an urban growth boundary expansion. As Jefferson County is home to the most productive agricultural land in Central Oregon, LandWatch was concerned that the UGB expansion would permanently convert prime farmland away from agricultural use without any need to expand the UGB.

No more excuses. It’s time for the County to require Thornburgh Resort to make good on its promises to mitigate for its effects on fish and wildlife.

On Monday, June 14, a settlement was reached between Central Oregon LandWatch, Oregon Wild, and the U.S. Forest Service to exclude sensitive riparian habitat from a proposed logging project in the Ochoco National Forest.