Skyline Forest: The Burning Question
Skyline Forest and Bend share a border within the wildland-urban interface (WUI) that is essential for managing wildfire risk to our communities.
The Two Bulls fire blazing just across Skyline Forest just outside of Bend in 2014. Photo: James Parsons.
In March 2021, the Bull Springs fire blazed just 4 miles northwest of Bend. Hundreds of people in nearby neighborhoods north of Shevlin Park had to evacuate their homes in a matter of hours.
Fortunately, the fire was contained. No lives were lost, and property damage was minimal. It could have been a different story, had the weather looked different that day.
By taking a closer look at the recent Bull Springs fire and others that have burned close to our cities and towns, we can better understand the changing reality of Central Oregon’s relationship with wildfire.
WUI 101
The Bull Springs fire burned across what is known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
Definitions for the WUI are varied and have changed over the years, but the conceptual basis has remained the same: it describes the area where our homes, built structures, and communities come into contact with land that is susceptible to burn from wildfire, posing a threat to property and human safety.
By this definition, many homes in Central Oregon could qualify as existing within the WUI. Consider the houses you glimpse through the trees outside Sisters or the residential properties throughout Tumalo.
The expansive landscape on the western edge of Bend that stretches from Shevlin Park to SW Century Drive and accommodates some of the city’s newest neighborhoods is actually the scar of one of the biggest blazes in Bend history. The Awbrey Hall fire of 1990 crossed major roadways, jumped the Deschutes River, and destroyed 22 homes in a matter of hours. Bend is no stranger to fire, and we need to remember that past as we plan for the future.
The Awbrey Hall fire burned through the night. Photo: Bend Fire Historical Society.
Coexisting with Wildfire
Central Oregon communities existing at the transition from wild to urban land must consider the reality of wildfire.
Our state’s visionary land use system was designed to limit urban sprawl and avoid compromising our ability to live and thrive on the very cusp of wildlands. However, we maintain a collective responsibility to proactively manage wildfire risk to our communities and take a fire-wise approach towards directing regional growth.
In the midst of a changing climate that has already contributed to wildfires burning with greater severity, we must take care to continually evaluate where development makes sense and where it would pose a categorical risk to community safety.
Skyline’s Fire-Prone Ecology
Picture the wooded foothills immediately west and northwest of Bend that rise and fall into the west until they reach the Cascade peaks. The mixed-conifer canopy you are gazing across encompasses 33,000 acres and is known as Skyline Forest. The property has historically been managed for commercial timber operations, yielding younger stands of ponderosa without the same natural resistance to wildfire as surrounding old-growth forests.
In fact, it has burned broadly in recent memory. Since 2010, over 10,000 acres of Skyline Forest have burned.
The Bull Springs fire of March 2021 that prompted evacuations burned across the southwest extent of Skyline Forest.
The Two Bulls fire burned over 6,000 acres of Skyline Forest in 2014.
On the market and at risk
The Skyline Forest property is currently listed for sale, with an asking price of $127 million.
It is not hard to imagine a potential buyer turning towards some sort of development scenario to justify the tremendous price tag. However, this vast property is currently zoned for permitted F1 forest uses only, which significantly limits the development potential.
Given the forest’s recent and substantial fire history, it remains abundantly clear that the property is both an unsafe and unwise place for future development. We shouldn’t extend our community and neighborhoods further into fire-prone forestland at a time when climate change is undeniably increasing the severity at which wildfires burn.
Additionally, by conserving it as intact forestland, there is real potential to restore the health and ecology of Skyline Forest. As it matures into a more dynamic and fire-resistant forest, it will increase safety by providing a wildfire buffer for Bend and Sisters.
Whether Skyline Forest is preserved as intact forestland or developed in some capacity will have a direct impact on our community’s ability to navigate the changing reality of wildfire in Central Oregon. That’s why we continue to monitor the property and look for permanent conservation solutions to preserve this landscape.
The Future of Skyline Forest
For decades LandWatch has fought efforts by developers to build homes on Skyline’s private timberland in order to balance the area’s recreational and ecological values with the working timber forest. Without permanent protection, that balance remains under threat.
We will continue to uphold Oregon’s land use laws that prevent expansive development on this forest land as we work to find a permanent conservation solution that protects this area once and for all.