After two years of work, the 21-member Citywide Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) recently held their final meeting. Thank you CTAC for your hard work and your commitment to creating a better future for transportation in Bend!

We believe that in preserving Central Oregon’s natural resources and livable communities, a just society for all people is more possible. A community cannot be livable when its Black residents are not safe. Central Oregon LandWatch stands in solidarity with those fighting to dismantle racism and to build a more equitable world.

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.

The Forest Service is exploring a change in forest policy for all National Forests east of the Cascades in Oregon via what they’ve dubbed “Project 21.” This project would allow the Forest Service to cut and sell trees larger than 21” in diameter. Thanks to prior advocacy, current forest policy prevents cutting these large trees throughout the Deschutes, Ochoco, Fremont-Winema, Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests.

LandWatch is pleased to announce the selection of Ben Gordon as our next Executive Director. As we celebrate our 35th year of defending our natural environment and building healthy communities, we are confident Ben has the vision and experience to guide LandWatch in its next phase.

Our community impact analysis found that residents of the Bend Central District's census tract are twice as likely to live in poverty as residents throughout Bend.

A recent guest column author argued that the solution for water shortages in the Deschutes River Basin is large canal piping projects for irrigation districts funded by the public, instead of much cheaper water market solutions. What he completely ignores is the cost of the large pipes, around $1 billion. In this economic crisis that is absurd. It will cost too much and take too long. Climate change, threatened fish and wildlife, degraded rivers and farmers without water security compel us to act quickly to solve this problem.

We've seen an incredible response from the helpers in our community as we face the threat of COVID-19 and its fallout together.

The beloved Ochoco National Forest and its precious habitat for elk, wolves, native fish and other species is once again threatened. Just over one year after Central Oregon LandWatch’s coalition victory in federal court to protect the area, the “Black Mountain” project proposes 22 miles of new roads and damage to riparian habitat without sufficient regard for the species that would be impacted.

As frontline defenders of Central Oregon’s rural lands, water, and wildlife and as proponents of sustainable, attractive, prosperous communities, another of the arenas in which LandWatch actively engages is legislative advocacy. We track bills, conduct background research, work with partner organizations, meet with legislators, provide testimony, and participate in crafting legislation. We work to support and strengthen good bills and to oppose, defeat, limit, or mitigate bad bills.

Recently, we were lucky enough to welcome Gavin Burke to the Central Oregon LandWatch board of directors. He brings with him years of expertise as an entrepreneur, and a passion for Central Oregon that will help propel us into the future.

Things are moving quickly with the City of Bend's Core Area planning process, which aims to create an Urban Renewal District in the Bend Central District and surrounding areas by August of this year.

The Central Oregon Conservation Network – a group of 12 environmental advocacy organizations that work in our region – recently decided to support a GO Bond that will be on the ballot in May because it will diversify Bend’s transportation network.

Deschutes County recently approved a 19-lot subdivision on the Deschutes River Canyon rim near Terrebonne. This site is a former mine and unpermitted hazardous waste dump site. The County denied a nearly identical application in 2015 because it did not comply with the Flood Plain zone and that zone's protections for fish, wildlife, and riparian habitat. This time around, the County decided the opposite, and approved dense development along riparian habitat.

Central Oregon Irrigation District’s (COID) latest watershed plan would pipe only 7.9 miles of the more than 400 miles of its canals and cost a whopping $568,000 per irrigator. The cost would be more than four times the price of conserved water generated by other similar piping projects in COID in recent years.

The BCD is positioned as a crossroads within the broader Bend community-- a rail line, the Highway 97 parkway, and large streets like Third Street and Greenwood connect many parts of the city. The BCD is also a crossroads for a diversity of people, from ethnic and racial diversity to socio-economic diversity.

We worked closely with and directly supported the efforts of the community movement 30/30 for the Deschutes to advocate for a healthy river. Overall, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service received more than 1,700 comments from the public asking them to assure that an improved plan for the Deschutes River is developed!
 

I am excited to announce that in June of this year I will be stepping down as the Executive Director of LandWatch, an organization that I founded 35 years ago when Whychus Creek was under threat of piping and clear cutting of its banks. 

For decades LandWatch has fought efforts by developers to build homes on Skyline’s private timberland, and for decades the working forest has balanced timber production with recreational and ecological values. But now that balance is under threat as the forest has been placed on the market for $127 million.

We are grateful to announce that this year, the Brainerd Foundation will generously match your year-end gift up to $35,000 to help keep Oregon lovable, and make it even more livable.