News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Metolius River Basin holds a special place in the hearts of those who live in the Sisters Country. It is equally precious to thousands of people who have visited Camp Sherman and fished or hiked along the river over many decades.
Many consider the Metolius Basin sacred ground, and proposals for two resorts in the area immediately sparked opposition, despite Jefferson County's decision that the resorts are appropriate under the county's new zoning map.
Contention over the resorts has reached a fever pitch as Governor Ted Kulongoski has weighed in, asking the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to designate the Metolius Basin as an "Area of Critical Concern."
Such designation would almost certainly shut down plans by Dutch Pacific Resources to develop an "eco-resort" called The Metolian.
"I would say that that's what it looks like," said Shane Lundgren, one of the partners in the project.
Lundgren lives in Camp Sherman, where his family has owned property for decades. He conceived of The Metolian as a new and different kind of resort, a 640-acre retreat where land stewardship, environmental education and eco-tourism are the top priorities. The Metolian would not have a golf course, like other destination resorts. Instead, the focus would be on hiking, horseback riding, birding and other "sustainable" forms of outdoor recreation.
There would be 180 lodging units and 450 homes.
The Metolian is planned to enhance the natural area, Lundgren insists, not to degrade it.
"We stand by the belief that The Metolian would exceed any natural resource requirement in the basin," he said.
Erik Kancler, Executive Director of Central Oregon Land Watch, said his organization opposes any resort development in the Metolius Basin, regardless of what developers call it.
"We are of the opinion that resorts are inappropriate for the Basin," he said.
Kancler said he recognizes that Lundgren and Dutch Pacific are trying to do something different with The Metolian.
"You might say that they're heading in the right direction with the concept," he said.
However, Kancler disputes the sustainability and ecological focus touted by the developers.
"In a lot of ways it looks like a glorified forest subdivision that is neither 'eco' nor 'resort,'" he said.
Kancler believes that Oregonians might be interested in eco-resorts in general, but "probably not in the Metolius Basin."
A much larger resort is proposed by Ponderosa Land and Cattle Company. Much of the potential resort property lies along Green Ridge outside the Basin and the proposed resort would draw its water out of the Deschutes watershed rather than the Metolius.
The Ponderosa Land and Cattle Company resort would be on 3,000 acres, would have 2,500 home sites and at least one golf course.
It is unclear whether the Area of Critical Concern designation would prohibit its development or only restrict its location.
"We don't know yet," said Ponderosa Land and Cattle Company spokesman Rick Allen. "It's an open book. We have land outside the basin. We haven't done any due dilligence on how it could function as a destination resort."
Kancler said that from his organization's standpoint, "a golf course resort is a complete nonstarter."
According to Governor Kulongoski's spokesperson Jillian Schoene, the governor favors a complete ban on resort development in the Metolius Basin.
"The governor feels that this is a special area that, if lost to development, is irreplaceable," Schoene said.
The details of such a ban must be worked out in a series of public hearings on the Area of Critical Concern designation, which are to be held sometime in the coming weeks.
"The details need to be settled by mid-March," Schoene said, acknowledging that this is "an aggressive schedule."
Lundgren is skeptical about the hearings.
"It begs the question, why have a bunch of hearings?" he said. "They've already articulated what they want to do."
Governor Kulongoski's call for a ban is seen as a reversal of his position on Senate Bill 30, which the governor opposed as an end-run around the land use process. SB 30 was proposed in 2007 to prohibit destination resorts in the Basin and was supported by Senator Betsy Johnson, whose family has owned property on the river for decades, and then-Senator Ben Westlund. The bill died in the face of a promised veto by Kulongoski.
Schoene said that Kulongoski hasn't really changed his position.
"He has always believed the Metolius River deserves protection," Schoene said. "He first wanted to explore if we could protect this area through existing law."
The governor determined that the Area of Critical Concern designation was the necessary means, Schoene said.
Lundgren said the governor's current position came as a shock.
"We feel a little blindsided by this," he said. "It begs the question as to what is the Oregon land use system - what is the credibility of it?"
Allen concurs. He told The Nugget that what opponents of the resorts, including now the governor, are trying to do poses a threat to the integrity of the Oregon land use system.
"Our position is that...the State of Oregon had a set of rules and laws that had long been established for how you map for destination resorts," he said.
Jefferson County followed those rules, Allen said, and now the state is revisiting an approved, legal decision.
"At some point, this isn't right," Allen said. "There's a whole fairness issue in this. If you support Oregon's land use system, you have to oppose any decision that overturns what Jefferson County did."
Lundgren said he finds it hard to understand, especially in the midst of an economic crisis, why the state government seems to want to shut down The Metolian, which Lundgren considers a potential model for sustainable development.
"We think it's kind of ironic that they're rounding us up and putting a bullet in us," he said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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