Oregon: Environmental Model Of This Nation - Doug Hancock, Camp Sherman

[Sent to Senators Brown, Ferrioli, Monnes Anderson, Nelson, and Johnson:]

I am writing to urge your strong support for SB 30 in its original version, without the amendments made by the prior committee.

Those who support development in the Metolius Basin have raised many objections to SB 30. These include arguments about loss of tax revenue for the county, loss of local control, NIMBYs, and deprivation of private property rights. While all of these arguments are made with conviction, none of them are valid. Moreover, even as there is at least arguable merit to arguments against SB 30, none of them can come close to justifying the degradation of the Metolius that would come from destination resorts. The Metolius Basin is the jewel in Oregon's crown. It deserves special protection and SB 30 is the only way to give it the protection it deserves so that all future generations of Oregonians can enjoy this natural wonder.

The destination resorts that are contemplated by Jefferson County would overwhelm the basin, which is a very fragile environment. The traffic alone would inundate the area, but this is just the beginning. Consider for a moment destination resorts many times larger than Sunriver in an area with one access road and you begin to see one of the problems. Other serious problems include pollution (of all kinds), increases in population far beyond what the area can carry, and serious concerns about the impact on the watershed.

You undoubtedly will hear a lot about these issues. For now I would rather give you my take on this legislation as a lifelong Oregonian who is fortunate enough to live in Camp Sherman, in the heart of the Metolius Basin. I don't need to tell you that Oregon is blessed with some of the most beautiful and pristine environments in the world. The Metolius Basin is one of the most notable.

But Oregon has been twice blessed: once with its lands, and once with courageous, independent politicians on both sides of the political divide, both liberal and conservative, who recognize that when it comes to protecting our environment, political partisanship has no role.

Oswald West was a democrat who took the lead in protecting our Pacific beaches for public use. And Tom McCall was a republican who pushed through legislation that maintained Governor West's public beach legacy, passed the bottle bill, cleaned up the Willamette River, and so much more.

Speaking on land use issues in 1973 Tom McCall said:

* * * there is a shameless threat in our environment and to the whole quality of our life, and that is the unfettered despoiling of our land. Coastal condomania, sagebrush subdivisions and the ravenous rampage of suburbia in the Willamette Valley, all threaten to mock Oregon's status as the environmental model of this nation.

Because of the convictions of Governor McCall and other leaders, Oregon continues to be a model for the rest of the nation in terms of protecting natural treasures. But his words ring true again today: now, over 30 years after McCall's warnings, there is another shameless threat in one of our most treasured environments; the Metolius Basin.

SB 30 eliminates that threat. You have the opportunity to stand in the proud company and carry on the tradition of your predecessors.

From a legal perspective, I have little doubt that Jefferson County could craft a zoning ordinance that allows destination resorts in the Metolius Basin . To a certain extent, SB 30 does sidestep this local process. However, SB 30 is based on the notion that in some cases there is a higher purpose than tax revenue and private profit. Namely, that some places are so unique they deserve protection so that future Oregonians may enjoy them.

Preserving Oregon's natural heritage has long been a tradition for Oregon politicians and civic leaders. Local governments have always been quick to ask the State government step in when it benefits the locals. As an example, the new jail in Madras could not have been built without the State's intervention in local land use regulations. Jefferson County was fine with State intervention in that case. It is disingenuous for the county to now say that the State shouldn't intervene on the basis that it usurps local control.

As to the NIMBYs, of course the people who live in the basin are opposed to destination resorts. But many hundreds of people from throughout the United States and around the world have voiced support for the bill. The reason is that preservation of the basin makes it available for all future generations. Once the resorts come, that can never be reversed.

At the end of the day, history remembers conservationists because they preserve natural treasures for future generations to enjoy. One of the developers who would build a destination resort was quoted a few weeks ago in the Sisters Nugget newspaper as saying that Senator Westlund "has ambitions in becoming governor, and perhaps he thought this [SB 30] would paint him as the man who saved the Metolius." Perhaps that is why Senator Westlund sponsored SB 30. Maybe not. Either way, it is far better to be remembered as the man who tried to save the Metolius than one who developed it.

Please pass SB 30.

Doug Hancock
Camp Sherman, OR