Wildlife habitat in Deschutes Canyon saved! Again

Here’s a little good news for 2021. For years, Deschutes County has tried to amend its Flood Plain Zone to weaken protections for wildlife and allow development along sensitive rivers and wetlands. But we fought back. The resolution of a recent case means that Deschutes County’s Flood Plain Zone will continue to protect our riparian areas and wetlands from development.

Defending the environment through land use advocacy is often a long and arduous endeavor. Sit back and let us spin you a tale of how steadfast advocacy and a community passionate about wildlife can achieve success.

For over a decade, the specter of a new 20-lot subdivision on the Deschutes River Canyon near Terrebonne rim has loomed. If built, this development at Lower Bridge Road would irreparably harm sensitive wildlife habitat directly across from the Borden Beck Wildlife Preserve. Even more alarming, its approval would have paved the way for more development on properties along rivers and wetlands throughout the County.

In the mid-2000s, Deschutes County rezoned part of the Lower Bridge property – a former diatomaceous earth mine and hazardous waste disposal site – for residential use at the request of the then-owner. The east side of the property along the Deschutes River was and still is zoned Flood Plain. Deschutes County’s Flood Plain Zone protects wetlands, riparian areas, and vital wildlife habitat by restricting development.

If you feel like you’ve heard about Deschutes County’s Flood Plain Zone and the Lower Bridge site before, you’re right. In 2015, we opposed a subdivision proposal at the Lower Bridge property because it conflicted with the protections of the Flood Plain Zone, and the application was denied. After that denial, Deschutes County tried twice to change its Flood Plain Zone so that developments like the subdivision at Lower Bridge would be allowed. 

LandWatch knows that the majority of wildlife in the County rely on riparian and wetland habitat found in the Flood Plain Zone, so we fought the County’s efforts to weaken the protections of the Flood Plain Zone both times.

Then, in 2019, the then-owner of the Lower Bridge property applied again to build a residential subdivision. This time, despite its impacts to wildlife, the County approved the subdivision. LandWatch, along with a like-minded neighbor of the property, appealed the County’s decision to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). We submitted our legal briefs and waited for the other side to respond.

Meanwhile, that same like-minded neighbor stepped up in a big way. The neighbor offered to buy the Lower Bridge property with the intention of preserving it as open space and wildlife habitat. After years of public opposition to development on the Lower Bridge property and steadfast defense of the Flood Plain Zone’s protections for wildlife, the former owner threw in the towel on their development plans and sold.

This opened up an opportunity for LandWatch to negotiate a settlement with Deschutes County. The terms of our settlement mean Deschutes County’s Flood Plain Zone and its protections for wildlife habitat will remain intact.

This story reinforces why our painstaking advocacy for wildlife habitat, using legal tools when necessary, is so important. We can’t say that wetlands and riparian areas in Deschutes County, and the vital wildlife habitat they provide, won’t be threatened again. But if they are, we’ll be ready.