Staff Attorney
As staff attorney for 1000 Friends of Oregon, John Butterfield 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, holding B.S. and M.S. 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 J.D. 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 costs of the carbon that would be released when that coal burned.
After law school, John was selected to join the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the California Department of Justice. As a deputy attorney general, he represented California’s natural resource agencies in state and federal courts, working to defend the state’s innovative resource protection programs and deter polluters through civil prosecutions.
Now an excited new Oregonian, John loves to be outside when he’s not working. His favorite spots (so far) are Forest Park in Portland and the beautiful hikes of the Columbia River Gorge.