The Land Use System That Makes Oregon Different
Skyline Forest: James Parsons
A Plan for Oregon
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Oregonians were increasingly troubled by unbridled growth and the urban development sprawling across the state's farmland and forests. In 1973, Governor Tom McCall made an impassioned plea to the Oregon legislature to enact a statewide land use planning program to protect Oregon's threatened agricultural and forest industries.
Governor McCall saw Oregon's rivers and streams and forests and farms as an irreplaceable biological resource.
“We’re talking about more than preserving the beauty of Oregon... We’re talking about the economy and the environment. We’re talking about balance. In short, we’re talking about people and the land.”
The legislature responded to Governor McCall's call to action with SB 100. This landmark statewide land use system was based on this simple concept: urban uses and development belong inside cities and towns while rural lands should be preserved for farms, forests, and open space.
To accomplish this, each city and town would be ringed by an urban growth boundary. This would foster growth inside cities and towns, creating tight-knit communities while protecting the surrounding landscapes from sprawl.
With broad public input from residents across the state, Oregon established nineteen state and regional planning goals. These include broad rights of public participation in land use decisions, protection of wildlife habitat, preservation of agricultural land, and conservation of forestlands.
The Role of the Watchdog
With the sweeping impact of Oregon’s new land use system came a threat that local governments could ignore these land use laws or interpret them out of existence.
Governor Tom McCall
Governor McCall knew that the land use laws would not enforce themselves. Unless there was a way for erroneous decisions of local governments to be identified and presented to courts for review, the intent of the Oregon legislature in establishing the statewide land use planning program would be lost.
Governor McCall foresaw the importance of having land use watchdogs to ensure that Oregon's comprehensive land use planning law was actually carried out.
This is where Central Oregon LandWatch plays a vital role.
LandWatch was founded in 1985 as a public interest nonprofit to ensure Oregon's statewide land use planning laws were upheld.
Today, our role as watchdog is to sound the alarm and draw attention to threats to the quality of life of our beautiful region. We advocate for the proper interpretation of Oregon's land use laws, and instigate lawsuits when necessary to obtain judicial review of planning decisions we see as threatening to the public interest or to the well-being of the community.
Over the years, LandWatch has had a significant impact in preserving the livability of Central Oregon and conserving our water and natural resources. Beginning with a successful challenge to a timber sale of old-growth trees on the banks of Whychus Creek in the 1980s, LandWatch has brought several highly publicized lawsuits, including the fight to achieve permanent protection for the Metolius River Basin, and a hard-won 70% reduction in a proposed 8400-acre expansion of the City of Bend's urban growth boundary. Recently LandWatch prevailed in keeping industrial uses away from working farmlands, and secured a perpetual easement to protect a crucial east-west wildlife migration corridor for mule deer, between their summer range in the Cascades to their winter range at Paulina, just south of Sunriver.
Become a defender
With the right laws in place, we have the tools we need to ensure a sustainable future for all of Central Oregon.
As the watchdog for Oregon’s land use system, LandWatch will continue to hold firm to its values to defend and protect rural landscapes, wildlife habitat, clean water, and the continued livability of this region for generations to come. Help us hold government agencies to account as we enforce federal and state environmental laws through our ongoing work.