The Metolius Basin is a fish and wildlife treasure targeted for exploitation by destination resorts, which are rural subdivisions that cause serious fish and wildlife problems. The two proposals for the basin would include more than 3,000 dwelling units. The nearby city of Sisters has about 900 households.
A House bill, HB 3100, would protect the basin through designation of an Area of Critical State Concern, as recommended to the Legislature by the Land Conservation and Development Commission after four months of intensive study and public meetings.
HB 3100 supporters have been subjected to a long-discredited charge -- if you cause environmental impacts you have no right to defend the Metolius. We all cause adverse effects on fish and wildlife. So the relevant questions are where and how much?
An old argument being made is: "There's development there now so it's not worth protecting." That's bogus. With less than 500 power connections in the entire basin, the existing development has tolerable adverse effects. But the U.S. Forest Service concluded the Metolius was at maximum capacity for recreational use in the mid-1990s, so we're at the tipping point.
The Ponderosa Land and Cattle Company and Dutch Pacific have development rights, under HB 3100, that are more than or the same as they currently have. Ponderosa would retain the same rights and supports HB 3100. Dutch Pacific would receive rights to develop over 25 times the units it has under existing laws, but opposes HB 3100.
The LCDC process and the information sent to the Legislature for HB 3100 is based on excellent and current science. In contrast, most of Jefferson County's planning was done in 1981 with minor updates in 1997. Few if any bills considered by the Legislature are as factually based as HB 3100. Some propose taking more time, but that means the fight to save the Metolius would likely be lost.
Another myth is that HB 3100 is worthless since it doesn't address all the current problems and future threats. So what else is new? There are no silver bullets for protecting our remaining but unprotected special places. All local, Oregon and federal systems for protecting such areas contain exceptions. HB 3100 will be a giant step forward, but diligence will still be needed to make sure implementation works.
According to hydrogeologist Mark Yinger, a majority of the surface water that the Dutch Pacific development would divert for its own use would have percolated to the shallow aquifer and discharge to Lake Creek when stream flows are low in late summer and fall. This would deplete flows in Lake Creek, an exceptionally important spawning and rearing stream for ESA-listed bull trout, native redbands and future Chinook and sockeye runs.
According to the Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Dutch Pacific and Ponderosa developments would be in elk winter range.
The Metolius is a national treasure that Oregon has the opportunity to protect for future generations, and HB 3100 accomplishes that.