By Sam Diaz | 5.5-minute read
Dear friends,
Thank you for making 2023 such an important year for land use in Oregon!
With your help, we celebrated 50 years of Oregon’s landmark legislation – Senate Bills 100 and 101 – across the state with tens of thousands of Oregonians. We hosted the premiere of An Oregon Story: Saving Our Beaches, Farmland & More, produced by Joe Wilson and past board member Jim Gilbert. We took part in a land use “family reunion” at Oregon’s Capitol State Park. We brought new friends to our cause through TEDxPortland, our Land Use Leadership Initiative, virtual and in-person workshops, and a new partnership with KATU News.
Supporters like you made all of that possible.
At the same time, as you likely know, special-interest groups have sought to use the 50th anniversary of SB 100 as its downfall. Paid lobbyists want to use headline issues as reasons to justify undoing our state’s one-of-a-kind land use system. They propose automatic urban growth boundary expansions; dangerous new exceptions to our zoning protections for farms and forests; and rollbacks to Climate Friendly Areas, a new land use planning method to encourage our major cities to build walkable, rollable, and complete neighborhoods.
As always, 1000 Friends of Oregon has risen to the occasion. I hope you’ve recently received your 2023 Annual Report, where you can read all about the challenges and successes of this year. Unfortunately, this fight is far from over. As we look ahead to 2024, we know we face mounted and well-financed opposition that feels emboldened by changes in capitol leadership.
Our strength comes from decades of experience working with you and tens of thousands of Oregonians who understand that land use decisions are crucial for the health, safety, and well-being of our people, our communities, and our environment.
But we also know something they don’t: Oregon is Oregon because of SB 100. We know that most Oregonians don’t accept the false notion that the solution to our housing crisis is to give up farms and forests. We know that most Oregonians value choices that protect all people, all livelihoods, and all lands. We know that most Oregonians won’t stand idly by while monied interests attack Oregon for corporate or out-of-state profit and short-term gain.
And that’s why, with your continued support, we know we’ll win.
Here’s how we’ll do it.
We’ll listen, connect, and organize with local communities.
Our strength comes from decades of experience working with you and tens of thousands of Oregonians who understand that land use decisions are crucial for the health, safety, and well-being of our people, our communities, and our environment. You bring new issues to light, and we provide the tools to understand, raise awareness, and take action.
In 2024, your support will:
- Provide workshops, webinars, and the land use hotline to even more Oregonians.
- Bring Land Use Leadership Initiatives back to Southern Oregon and the Portland area.
- Create new partnerships to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 1000 Friends of Oregon.
Give now to support this work
We’ll research and test data-driven, results-oriented solutions.
Our team sets a high bar for advocacy, requiring extensive research to ensure that solutions are clear, credible, and compelling. Whether we’re researching environmental and economic benefits that come from stewardship by our farmers, ranchers, and foresters or what it takes to convert vacant commercial buildings inside our cities and towns into new housing, cutting-edge ideas require proof of concept.
In 2024, your support will:
- Identify cities and towns with maximum ability to build the housing Oregonians need.
- Focus research on barriers and opportunities for redevelopment, adaptive reuse, transit-oriented development, and balanced infill.
- Partner with our Forestry and Agriculture Advisory Committee, local affiliate groups, and other organizations on the newly launched Natural Climate Solutions Fund, providing $10 million in tangible, meaningful support for the stewards of our working lands.
With your continued support, I know we’ll win in all these ways and more. Help us protect Oregon’s unique land use planning program – and even more importantly, protect Oregon and Oregonians – for generations to come.
Give now to support this work
We’ll build power with Oregonians to advocate for win-win policies and investments.
1000 Friends recognizes that the people closest to an issue are key partners in developing and advocating for the solution to that issue. When Oregon gets land conservation and city development right, we set opportunities to thrive in motion. But when Oregon gets land use decisions wrong, we all pay for it. These decisions often hinge on local voices.
In 2024, your support will:
- Connect more Oregonians to key elected officials and agency leaders at critical moments in local, regional, and state land use decisions.
- Offer more face-to-face opportunities for land use advocates to meet with each other to advise and partner with our team.
Give now to support this work
We’ll prevail in the court of law and of public opinion.
From the beginning, our staff has included talented, committed attorneys who ensure, as a tool of last resort, that people are protected over corporate interests in the courts. In the first nine months of this year alone, our legal team fielded more than 80 reported land use issues from 21 Oregon counties. When we’re not able to resolve these issues in their earliest stages, we file for and represent Oregonians in court, free of charge.
In 2024, your support will:
- Increase our legal team’s capacity to work with Oregonians on tough, complex land use issues.
- Hire an additional land use attorney to focus on protecting our farms, forests, and watersheds.
- Gather and share better data and more stories that show why a win in court is a win for every Oregonian, without exception.
It is an honor and a privilege to be able to do this work. With your continued support, I know we’ll win in all these ways and more. Help us protect Oregon’s unique land use planning program – and even more importantly, protect Oregon and Oregonians – for generations to come.
From our entire team and as part of the next generation, happy holidays, and thank you for all you do.
For Oregon,
Samuel Diaz
Executive Director
Give now to support a winning future for Oregon
P.S. Donate before the end of the year and you could WIN A WONDERFUL OREGON EXPERIENCE of your own: a picnic with alpacas in Bend! Thanks to a generous contribution from Paca Picnics and Flying Dutchman Alpacas, one lucky donor will receive a picnic package for up to four people. Give today for your chance to win.