Activists launch letter campaign

As Jefferson County continues to work through the approval process for two destination resorts in the Metolius Basin area, the activist group Friends of the Metolius has launched a letter-writing campaign to urge legislators to ban destination resort development in the area.

One of the resorts, owned by Ponderosa Land & Cattle Co., would cover some 10,000 acres on Green Ridge and include golf courses, overnight accommodations and other traditional destination resort amenities. The other is a proposed eco-friendly resort called The Metolian located on about 600 acres in the Metolius Basin itself.

As conceived by the developer, Dutch Pacific Resources, The Metolian would focus on eco-tourism and would not include a golf course.

Friends of the Metolius wants legislation that would put the Metolius Basin on a list of areas protected from destination resort development.

"We are working hard to insure that new legislation, similar to the legislation approved by the Senate in 2007, that will include the Metolius in the list of places where destination resorts are not permitted, will be introduced in the 2009 legislative session, which begins in just a couple of weeks," the organization wrote in an appeal to members.