We gave Bend's Millennial leaders the chance to design their ideal version of NE Hawthorne Ave at the Bend Chamber's first ever Young Professionals Summit.

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.  

After the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled in favor of wildlife earlier this year, Deschutes County went back to court to challenge their ruling. In a recent ruling from the Court of Appeals, LUBA's decision was affirmed, upholding protections for wildlife in the deer winter range!

Central Oregon LandWatch is the only group on the front lines in defense of Deschutes County’s wildlife habitat code protections. Last week, we filed an appeal of an alarming change to the county’s Flood Plain Zone to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

We need to plan ahead so that together, our land uses and transportation system can reduce the average number of miles we all have to travel to get to where we want to go.

More than 100 of the iconic, old-growth ponderosa pine trees which greet us when we arrive back into Central Oregon from the Santiam Pass or the Metolius River Basin are dying because they were sprayed with a deadly herbicide by the Forest Service and ODOT over the course of three consecutive years. 

Last night, LandWatch advocated for wildlife habitat and protection from wildfire risk adjacent to Shevlin Park by supporting an application for a new zone in Deschutes County. The proposal to create a Westside Transect zone will extend to the county the 2016 UGB concept of tapering density as the city boundary nears the forest where there is higher risk of wildfire.

As people continue to move here, the Bend Central District is our best hope for Central Oregon to grow into a place we want to keep calling home.

A victory in Central Oregon LandWatch’s fight to protect elk habitat and quiet recreation opportunities in the Ochoco National Forest came out Monday, August 27th, 2018.