As you well know, we are experiencing a significant interruption in the systems that we may take for granted as COVID-19 spreads across the world. From an over-burdened medical system to the social contracts implicit in a smile, no stone is left unturned, including our food systems.

Through an innocent-sounding “update” to County-wide codes in both Crook County and Jefferson County, longstanding protections for farm and forest lands could be weakened.  Both counties are considering the adoption of new “model codes” that would significantly replace the counties’ existing EFU and Forest zoning codes.

From the iconic landscape to delicious local food, from our thriving rural communities to important wildlife habitat--agricultural land, also called "resource land", is part of our way of life. 

LandWatch has fought for the preservation of agricultural land in Central Oregon for years, and this month we are happy to be able to tell you that we succeeded in a recent case to maintain protections for farm and ranch land in Jefferson County!

Preserving land that could be used for agriculture is at the heart of Oregon’s visionary land use laws. By containing most residential development inside cities and preserving agricultural land in the rural county, we can ensure that our urban areas are vibrant and equitable while our rural areas are preserved in trust for future generations.

Our win closes a local loophole that was allowing more development than is typically allowed on farm and ranch land. 

Agriculture is an important part of Central Oregon’s cultural heritage and supports a resilient local food system. Farm and ranch land has remained available for family farmers in Central Oregon because of protections put in place by our statewide land use planning system.  

The process to reevaluate agricultural lands threatens to classify them as “non-resource”, and prioritize them for development.