We’re kicking off Earth Month by sharing a selection of resources designed to inspire practical climate action — personalized for you. We hope these tools help you feel empowered to see yourself and your community as a tangible driver of climate solutions.

Bend has advanced to the Final Four in the national Strongest Town Contest—an exciting recognition of the work being done to create a more sustainable, resilient, and livable city.

Your vote can help propel Bend to the championship!

When a data center came knocking, Christmas Valley farmers weren’t interested. Read on for the backstory on a significant win for Christmas Valley and Lake County, and an update on an ongoing challenge to preserve agricultural land in Jefferson County.

In the first month of the new administration, environmental advocates have faced a maelstrom of threats to the foundations of environmental protection and community well-being. 

At LandWatch, we are determined to stay focused on the positive changes we can affect. We are here to defend the land and water of Central Oregon and ensure a livable future for all its residents — and we won’t settle for anything less.

Our Cities & Towns team is focused on two key priorities during Oregon’s 2025 legislative session: affordable housing and transportation. 

We’ve detailed some of the key opportunities on our radar in Salem this year that will move Complete Communities forward in our cities and towns east of the Cascades.

Oregon’s land use planning system is hailed as a model for preserving its unique agricultural and forest landscapes while fostering sustainable growth.

Despite this, a troubling trend has emerged in recent years: spot zoning of farm and forest lands.

Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s “non-essential experimental population” (NEP) designation for Upper Deschutes Basin steelhead expires — meaning all steelhead above the Pelton Round Butte dams are now officially listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

So much happened throughout 2024. The LandWatch team is proud to have realized some big accomplishments in the name of regional livability on behalf of Central Oregonians like you. Here is a brief retrospective of some of the things we got up to in the field, in the courtroom, and alongside our amazing community of supporters!

Over the past year, LandWatch added staff and board capacity to keep pace with the rapid change in our region, expand our impact, and achieve our ambitious vision for the future.

Now, we’re excited to introduce four inspiring community members who will be joining the LandWatch Board of Directors in 2025. Get to know Jackie Dingfelder, Nancy Hinnen, Erin Rifkin, and Peter Shepherd!

Join us as we delve into the intersectional intricacies of the United States’ most famous wildlife conservation law and Central Oregon’s prevailing framework for (theoretically) balancing the needs of water users and threatened species to better understand a path toward meaningful steelhead habitat restoration and population recovery in the Upper Deschutes Basin.

Responses to our joint survey of Central Oregon Irrigation District patrons clearly show that local irrigators are eager to improve irrigation system efficiencies and reduce water waste.

As climate change and drought continue to place pressure on water resources in Central Oregon, an integrated approach to solving water scarcity issues is needed; a concerted effort to pipe private laterals must be part of the solution. 

The City of Sisters and its residents have been hard at work planning to accommodate a 20-year supply of needed housing and employment lands.

Five UGB concept alternatives will be discussed at a Dec 9 Open House. Thanks to their thoughtful approach, the City is poised to preserve the attributes that make Sisters the distinctive town it is today.

With a long holiday weekend ahead, our team hopes you will soon be enjoying meals with your cherished friends and family and time amidst your favorite native plants and rushing rivers.

Could you use a quiet escape? Well, good news … 

Central Oregon LandWatch has teamed up with Left Coast Lodge, a small historic lodge n the heart of Sisters, Oregon, to offer one lucky winner a two-night stay. See post to see how to enter!

There are many ways to contribute to your community as an individual, with a group, or through local government. There are larger commitments, as well as simple actions, formal and informal, and all of it adds up to a more Complete Communities in this place we call home. So, how might you act locally? We’ve compiled a list of ideas!

Rapid growth presents us with a challenge and an opportunity: to grow well and with intention so that our communities are more vibrant, affordable, inclusive, and climate-resilient. So let’s take a look at what we can do to act locally for our climate and community.

Join us on Oct. 23 to gaze out over Central Oregon agriculture horizon with local farmers and ranchers Megan Kellner-Rode, Cate Havstad-Casad, and Sky Sharp.

We guarantee you will leave fired up about local agriculture!

Central Oregon LandWatch recently added our name to the long and growing list of supporters of Ballot Measure 9-173. The measure will appear on the November ballot for consideration by all Deschutes County voters, and asks whether the size of the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners should be expanded from three to five commissioners.

LandWatch feels strongly that the answer is “yes,” and here is why.

In less than a century, the impacts of irrigation, hydropower projects, and other human activities throughout the Deschutes Basin have disrupted the natural water systems and environmental conditions that sustained abundant steelhead populations for millennia.

In order to take steps toward habitat recovery, it is important to understand how we’ve fundamentally changed these waterways.

LandWatch’s new Livable Future Forum will provide a place for discussion and dialogue about the key environmental issues of our time and the solutions that we can put into place locally. On Oct 3, 2024, we will talk about the factors leading to local mule deer population decline and the critically-needed solutions available to help them.