Nick Bjork//March 24, 2011//
A new state report shows that 98 percent of all non-federal land that was in forest, agriculture and range land uses in Oregon in 1974 remained in those uses in 2009.
The statistic came out of a by the Oregon Department of Forestry called Forest, Farms and People that examines the evolution of land use in Oregon since some of the state’s first land-use laws were implemented in the early 1970s.
The study noted that the conversion of these resource lands into development lands didn’t slow down dramatically until the mid 1980s, more than ten years after Oregon first implemented its land-use system. Oregon took that long to roll out its new laws, which put a state body over required municipality land-use planning.
However, development on resource lands was high in the 1990s and 2000s. But during the recession in 2007, development declined to its lowest level in the 35-year study period.
The study points out that private land in western Oregon was developed at a faster rate than on the eastern side. The Portland area and parts of Josephine County were the two hot spots for private land development, while Bend was the only place developing these lands on the east side.