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Yes on 49: Protect our forests and farms

Ballot proposal would reform Measure 37

Oregon is a state defined by our landscape: dense forests, fertile farmland, and wide open spaces. Unfortunately, flaws and loopholes in Measure 37 have paved the way for new  subdivisions, strip malls, and big-box stores that threaten more than 750,000 acres of our landscape. Oregon voters have a chance to protect our landscape with Measure 49 on this fall’s special election ballot.

In western Oregon, it’s the rolling farm and vineyard lands of the Willamette Valley, bordered on one side by the richly forested mountains of the Coast Range and on the other by the fir-covered foothills of the Cascades. In eastern Oregon, it’s the wide-open spaces of wheat field, range land and sagebrush plains that fill the vistas between mountain ranges.

Today, development claims filed under Measure 37 threaten special places across the state. Among current proposals: housing subdivisions among the pear orchards of the Hood River valley and the forests of the Coast Range, a Wal-Mart proposed in Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood, a pumice mine in the Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument outside Bend, and strip malls throughout the Willamette Valley.

The powerful interests that backed Measure 37 are looking to cash in on these developments. Stimson Lumber Company gave $30,000 to the campaign that helped pass Measure 37. They’ve since filed development claims worth $269 million, according to Democracy Reform Oregon.

Environment Oregon is now working to pass Measure 49. The measure fixes the flaws in Measure 37—delivering on the promise to let individual land-owners build a home or two on their property, but protecting our forests and farms by stopping the huge subdivisions, strip malls, and industrial development currently being planned.

“Oregonians care deeply about protecting our forests and farmland,” says Jonathan Jelen, Environment Oregon’s field director. “I’m confident that if Oregonians turn out and vote for Measure 49, we’ll succeed in protecting these special places.” Ballots will be mailed to voters on October 19 for the November 6 special election. 

Measure 49 would protect forests and farms, including vineyards like this one, from development of subdivisions and strip malls.