Senior Staff Attorney
If you would like to contact our legal team regarding a land use issue in Oregon, please email landuse@friends.org
As senior staff attorney for 1000 Friends of Oregon, John Butterfield (he/him/his) works to enforce Oregon’s land use laws throughout the state, inspired and guided by 1000 Friends’ pursuit of livable urban and rural communities that protect farms, forests, and our state’s natural resources.
John comes from a science background, with bachelor of science (BS) and master of science (MS) degrees from Stanford University in earth systems, where he studied impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Recognizing the importance of legal procedure in natural resource policymaking, John earned his JD at the University of Chicago Law School, where he joined the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic to work to prevent new coal leasing on federal lands that failed to consider the social costs of the greenhouse gases that would be released when that coal burned.
After law school, John worked as a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice, where he represented California’s natural resource agencies in state and federal courts. After moving to Oregon, John joined 1000 Friends and has represented both the organization and its affiliates before the Land Use Board of Appeals, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and the Oregon Supreme Court.
When he’s not working, John loves to be outside: Hiking in Forest Park, strolling on coastal beaches, and swimming in Lost Lake.
Read John's latest piece, "1000 Friends partners with Bull Run Community Planning Organization and coalition of neighboring farmers to keep weddings out of timber resource zones."