News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The legal path is nearly cleared for the preservation of the Skyline Forest, lying between Sisters and Bend.
Now the hard part: raising the funds to make creation of a "community forest" a reality.
Legislation passed the Oregon House last week and now heads to the Governor for his signature. HB 2228 provides a means for the Deschutes Land Trust (DLT) to conserve Skyline Forest, the 33,000-acre forest lying along the foot of the Cascades southeast of Sisters.
A former tree farm, the forest constitutes much of the scenic view for Central Oregon, while providing important wildlife habitat and outstanding recreational opportunities. DLT would conserve the forest as a sustainably managed community forest.
The legislation would also allow DLT to conserve portions of the historic Gilchrist Tree Farm, running south from Sunriver along the Little Deschutes River to the town of Crescent in Klamath County. Protection of the Gilchrist Tree Farm would preserve an important mule deer migration corridor and public access, while maintaining sustainable timber production for local mills.
Once the Governor signs the bill, Fidelity National Timber, the owners of Skyline Forest, will have up to five years to file a master plan for their development. Filing of the master plan will then trigger a three-year race for the Deschutes Land Trust to raise the funds to purchase and conserve more than 100 square miles of forest.
The race isn't on quite yet, but DLT Executive Director Brad Chalfant told The Nugget that the organization needs to build local support in order to show major granting agencies and foundations that the community strongly backs the preservation of the undeveloped portion of the forest.
"Once the Skyline owners file a master plan, the land trust will have three years to raise the funds necessary to conserve Skyline Forest. Much of the funding will come from agencies, foundations, and the forest authority, but local support is critical, since all those outside sources will be watching to see how the local community supports the project," Chalfant said.
"We need people to become members," Chalfant said. "We need people to get involved with the land trust... We're the vessel, but the community needs to have a hand in this."
Chalfant also said that editorials, letters to the editor in local papers and endorsements from civic groups will all be important evidence of community support.
Chalfant also wants to connect people with the value of the property through tours on the land this summer.
"We'd love to get people out onto the property," he said.
Chalfant expects a strong outpouring of support from Sisters.
"Sisters has always been so incredible to work with," he said. "People care about this land."
The land trust has been part of an ongoing effort to keep the forest from being broken up into parcels.
In May, legislators asked Fidelity, Central Oregon LandWatch and the Deschutes Land Trust to meet and negotiate a deal that creates an incentive for the landowner to limit the footprint of their development. Under current law, Skyline could have been broken into 240 acre home sites.
Should Fidelity choose to use the new legislation, DLT would have the opportunity to conserve up to 66,500 acres (31,800 acres within Skyline Forest and 34,700 acres near the Little Deschutes River) of forest in Central Oregon at timber, rather than development, value.
Chalfant is thrilled - and a little amazed - that the path to preservation has opened up so quickly. DLT was not expecting legislative action this session.
"I'm still a little bit in shock that all this came together the way it did," he said.
Chalfant expects Fidelity to take a year or so before submitting a master plan.
"They're not developers," he explained. "They need to bring in a development partner and they need some time to do that."
Chalfant hailed the legislature's move as "landmark legislation" providing a means and a model of preserving large blocks of forest land.
"Once it gets broken up, you never get it put back together," he said.
For more information on Deschutes Land Trust, call 330-0017 or visit http://www.deschuteslandtrust.org.
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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