A Black Butte Ranch founder returns

Mike Hollern, one of Black Butte Ranch's (BBR) founders, returned last week to relive some of the early history of planning the Ranch almost 40 years ago.

Speaking to an appreciative Friends of BBR group at the Ranch fire hall, the Brooks Resources executive outlined past history, present and future development plans for his corporation.

In 1969, the Brooks-Scanlon Company formed the Brooks Resources Corporation and acquired land for today's BBR. This was the start of a series of successful developments over the past 36 years.

Earlier, in 1950, Brooks-Scanlon had purchased Shevlin-Hixon. Both had been successful lumber companies in Bend since early in the 20th century. Thus began a company which realized the need for a diverse business base.

After BBR came the successful developments at Crossroads and Tollgate in our local area, creating lower cost housing. Sisters was a small, rural town when Brooks-Scanlon thought helping development would be beneficial in serving a growing population.

Partnerships in building a Western theme for business structures in Sisters included creating a Western facade on the main street of town.

Black Butte Ranch was thoroughly planned from the start.

"We planned from the start of BBR to have 1,250 structures eventually on the Ranch property," said Hollern.

This has been achieved with a mixed population of owners, some living part-time with vacation homes and some full-time residents. The winter population is 500 or more residents, and summer sees populations of between 5,000 and 10,000.

After starting with a nine-hole golf course, the Ranch supports two outstanding courses today. Other amenities include two restaurants and five summer swimming pools.

"I think the Ranch management and homeowners association have done an excellent job with developments at the Ranch," said Hollern.

With the growth in Central Oregon, Brooks has planned developments in Madras (the Yarrow project) and Prineville (the Iron Horse project).

"These homes will provide more affordable housing for people in that area," said Holern. "We don't think that people will commute from there to jobs in Bend. There are growing jobs, such as the prison in Madras, which will have 500 jobs plus ancillary job opportunities. Also, jobs at Les Schwab's central headquarters in Prineville."

Hollern pointed out that Central Oregon is fortunate to have access to an abundant water supply.

Asked if his group would have done anything differently at BBR's start, Hollern replied, "We might have taken out a few more trees to lower fire danger at the Ranch. However, we considered the beauty and environment in our decisions."