A Joint Letter to Deschutes County

April 17, 2023

Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners, Deschutes County Planning Commission

117 NW Lafayette Ave, Bend, Oregon 97703

RE: robust community support for the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan update to incorporate policies that protect wildlife and open space, preserve agricultural land, and protect natural resources.

Dear Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission,

We undersigned organizations, whose membership includes thousands of Deschutes County residents, are concerned about the trajectory of our county. Over the past decade, we’ve watched as wildlife populations have dwindled, water tables have dropped, rural and agricultural lands have been developed into luxury housing, open spaces have been lost, and accelerating climate change continues to exacerbate all of these issues. In response, we have come together to deliver a joint message to the County: Deschutes County should change course. It should do so by updating its comprehensive plan to incorporate the following points: 

  • Protect Wildlife, Biodiversity, and Open Space

    • Protect our regions biodiversity, and proactively respond to dwindling wildlife populations in our region

    • Protect wildlife by using the best available data to update all wildlife habitat inventories

    • Prioritize preservation of open space in Deschutes County

    • Value trees for their climate change mitigation and ecosystem value

  • Preserve Agricultural Land

    • Keep agricultural lands zoned for farm use, including dry rangeland, by ending spot zoning

    • Keep agricultural land priced for farmers

    • Encourage conservation and efficiency improvements and encourage equitable water distribution to provide sufficient irrigation water for commercial farmers

  • Protect the Region’s Strained Water Resources: 

    • Maintain groundwater data and limit new development in areas with declining groundwater levels

    • Help upgrade infrastructure for water delivery and use, to benefit agricultural water users and to place more water instream for fish and wildlife habitat

    • Require water conservation in new development and property improvements

  • Protect Communities from Wildfire:

    • Ensure wildfire safe communities and reduce risk to firefighters, by protecting current development and limiting future development in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) 

  • Support Housing Affordability and Availability Inside our Cities

    • Work with cities to plan for and produce needed affordable housing inside urban growth boundaries, including planning for future growth

  • Address Emerging Trends 

    • Integrate a response to climate change throughout the comprehensive plan

    • Plan for renewable energy facility development while also protecting open space, wildlife, and agricultural lands

    • Appropriately resource County code compliance and enforce existing laws

Deschutes County has a responsibility to its residents to safeguard its wildlife, working lands, and natural resources—we look forward to the County’s use of this comprehensive plan update to meet this obligation by incorporating the above values.  

Sincerely,

Rory Isbell, Rural Lands Program Manager, Staff Attorney, Central Oregon LandWatch

Greg Holmes, Rural Lands Policy Director, 1000 Friends of Oregon

Lindsey Hardy, Energy & Waste Programs Director, The Environmental Center

Michael O’Casey. Deputy Director, Pacific Northwest Region, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

Mary Fleischmann, Leader, Central Oregon Bitterbrush Broads, Great Old Broads for Wilderness 

Gretchen Valido & Mathieu Federspiel, Chair & Vice Chair, Juniper Group Sierra Club

Sally Compton, Executive Director, Think Wild

Rick Martinson, Executive Director, Worthy Environmental

Diane Hodiak, Executive Director, 350Deschutes

Eva Eagle, Oregon Land & Water Alliance

Bret Campbell & Dick Kellogg, Friends of the Metolius

Suzanne Linford, Protect Animal Migration


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