PROTECTING FROM WILDFIRE
Land Use Planning Protects Central Oregon from Wildfire
The likelihood of wildfire throughout our region makes rural and sprawling development extremely dangerous.
In Central Oregon, wildfire is a natural ecological process that keeps our forests and grasslands healthy and resilient. Because of this, we need to plan for people and wildfire to coexist. This is why LandWatch has spent more than a decade advocating for careful planning in the face of wildfire, especially in our region’s most high-risk areas.
Land use planning that limits dispersed rural development and promotes infill development inside urban growth boundaries (UGBs) is one of the most effective tools to prevent loss from wildfire.
With global climate change causing warmer temperatures and more frequent drought conditions in Central Oregon, LandWatch’s commitment to planning for wildfire is stronger now than ever.
Wildland Urban interface
The wildland urban interface (WUI) is an area where human development meets wildlands. These areas are outside of urban centers, prone to wildfire, and usually distanced from infrastructure. WUIs can be a draw for visitors and residents because of their natural beauty and opportunity for recreational activities. These qualities of the WUI in Central Oregon have contributed to our extraordinary growth in recent decades. However, failing to use the WUI as a fire break that protects urban areas can come at a high cost as communities like Paradise, CA recently experienced.
Wildfire can spread extremely quickly, and buildings that are not properly prepared are effective fuel for fires. Combined with the buildup of brush and fuel in these areas, the spread of fire poses an immediate danger to those living in the WUI, as well as emergency responders tasked with the protection of these homes.
Climate change has created a new set of problems for residents of this zone, both humans and wildlife. Longer, drier summers and earlier snowmelt create conditions that make fire containment and the protection of property very difficult. Wildfire frequency and intensity have increased along with the number of homes in these areas. That combination can be treacherous and, as we have seen in past wildfire seasons, can often turn deadly.
Wildfire is not the only concerning aspect of the WUI. Development in wild areas can disrupt wildlife habitat and migration patterns. Forest and rangeland fragmentation has an enormous effect on the wildlife native to the area, and rapid disruption of their environment can be devastating to populations that rely on the established ecology.
Land Use Planning IS Essential to Wildfire Protection
As development pressures grow in high-risk areas, we must consider every new development in the WUI carefully. Smart planning that takes wildfire risk into account will help avoid unnecessary loss of life and homes, risk to our health, and endangerment of firefighters.
Oregon's land use planning laws concentrate growth within urban growth boundaries and protect rural lands for agriculture and forestry. These growth patterns are consistent with what fire risk experts now recommend as the best approach for creating fire-adapted communities.
In a recent study, fire risk experts demonstrated the advantages of compact urban development for protecting homes against wildfire. The researchers compared predicted fire risks for homes located in infill, rural low density, or leapfrog development patterns. They found that lower housing density and small, isolated clusters of development on rural lands are predicted to result in the highest fire risk to homes, while infill development is predicted to have the lowest fire risk.[1]
LandWatch advocates for Central Oregon governments to support fire-adapted communities through the proper implementation of Oregon's land use laws that concentrate development within urban growth boundaries. When houses are built outside urban growth boundaries on farmland and forestland, our towns and villages lose an essential wildfire buffer.
[1] A.D. Syphard, Massada A. Bar, V. Butsic, J.E. Keeley. "Land Use Planning and Wildfire: Development Policies Influence Future Probability of Housing Loss." PLoS ONE 8(8): e71708. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071708, 2013.
Central Oregon Communities are Vulnerable to Wildfire
Longtime Central Oregon residents will remember the Awbrey Hall fire, which ripped through the forested areas west of Bend and burned 16 houses in three hours in 1990. The fire started in early August on a ridge in Shevlin Park, crossed major roads and the Deschutes River to travel 6 miles and destroy a total of 22 homes in its wake.
More recently, the Two Bulls Fire burned 6,908 acres west of Bend, causing the evacuation of about 254 homes and around 635 people on the west side of Bend in June, 2014. It came within three miles of the city and thankfully avoided catastrophic destruction due to favorable winds.
Along with Bend, most Central Oregon communities have experienced nearby wildfire over the past century.
Count on LandWatch to enforce Oregon’s land use laws
For more than a decade, LandWatch has successfully blocked dangerous development on hundreds of acres of private land in Bend’s WUI from being developed. If we hadn’t been on the front lines, landowners would have been able to build around five thousand new homes between Tumalo Creek and Skyline Ranch Rd. That level of development would not only disrupt critical habitat in the Tumalo Deer Winter Range, but would also create a tinderbox for wildfire to spread from the forest to the city.
Most of the land between Tumalo Creek and Skyline Ranch Road would have been developed at urban levels had it come in with the City of Bend’s 2009 Urban Growth Boundary proposal to expand the city by more than 8,400 acres.
Central Oregon LandWatch was the lead appellant against that proposal because of our concerns about wildlife habitat, wildfire, and the lack of analysis for how to use existing city lands more efficiently. The State of Oregon remanded that proposal, and the City’s successful 2016 UGB process had a much more robust public process.
That new public process opened up the opportunity for Central Oregon LandWatch to work with developers and landowners, which resulted in the Westside Transect (and a Conversation of the Year award). The transect approach means that more dense development is located closer to the core of the city where services and infrastructure are already available, and tapering density as the city grows outward toward natural features such as Tumalo Creek and the Deschutes National Forest
While extreme weather-driven fire will still be a real threat to the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), the Westside Transect will help save lives and homes. Reduced density means there will be fewer people to evacuate in the event of a fire. More space between homes, firewise building codes, and landscaping requirements will reduce the risk of rapidly spreading wildfire.
BEND’S WESTSIDE TRANSECT KEEPS DEVELOPMENT OUT OF FIRE-PRONE FORESTLANDS
Our successful negotiations with landowners have led to protections from wildfire on more than 1,500 acres in the WUI west of the City of Bend, where the City of Bend and development meet forested areas. By promoting smart growth and infill development in the core of Bend, along with the transect concept where density tapers on the edge of the City, LandWatch is proving that a rapidly growing city can both sustainably accommodate new residents and coexist with wildfire. Now, we are working to educate similar communities about how land use planning can be an effective tool for saving lives and property from catastrophic fire.
Miller Tree Farm - The Tree Farm is located on 533 acres west of Bend's city limits in Deschutes County. The property is located off Skyliners Road bordered mostly by U.S. Forest Service land and on the west by the beloved Shevlin Park. The community will consist of 50, 2-acre homesites, with the remaining 80% of the property as dedicated open space. Learn about LandWatch’s February, 2016 settlement with Brooks Resources.
Westside & Shevlin UGB Expansion – Three tracts of land totaling 412 acres were brought into the Urban Growth Boundary in 2016, but have not yet been annexed into the City of Bend. LandWatch negotiated a maximum number of housing units allowed to be built in these areas (1157). Without this maximum, this area could have developed more than 5,000 new homes.
Deschutes County Westside Transect Zone – In 2019, Deschutes County adopted LandWatch’s proposal creating a new Westside Transect Zone. The zone applies to 717 acres that are in line to become part of the City of Bend in the next UGB expansion with the potential for 2,000 or more homes. The Westside Transect Zone limits development to a maximum of 187 homes with strict fire protection requirements. This type of low-density is critical for firefighting and protection.
LandWatch will continue to advocate for land use planning that limits dispersed rural development and promotes infill development inside urban growth boundaries (UGBs) to prevent subjecting Oregonians to the damaging effects of wildfire.