The SpokeSman • TueSday, november 29, 2022 A5
YourBusiness
710-acre farm parcel near Terrebonne
rezoned as 10-acre rural residential plots
BY ANNA KAMINSKI
CO Media Group
The Deschutes County Com-
mission rezoned 710 acres of
farmland west of Terrebonne on
Nov. 21, allowing the property
to be carved up into 71 10-acre
residential plots.
After a lengthy public hear-
ings process and more than 300
public comments both for and
against the proposal to change
the land from agricultural use to
residential use, the commission
voted 2-1 to follow the recom-
mendation of the hearings offi-
cer in June.
At the heart of the proposal
was whether the land, which is
located near NW Coyner Ave-
nue, was viable for agricultural
use, but that’s not the only con-
cern among those in opposition.
Some had concerns for traffic
impacts to neighboring farms
and ranches, groundwater use
and wildlife and mule deer mi-
gration.
However, the hearings offi-
cer decided in April that the soil
quality on the land was inade-
quate for agricultural use.
Commissioners Patti Adair
and Tony DeBone were among
supporters of the proposed
changes. They voted in favor
of the changes Monday while
Commissioner Phil Chang
voted against them.
“Speculative rezones like this
are driving up the price of land
and are making it more diffi-
cult for farmers and ranchers to
do their agricultural business,”
Chang said Monday.
The applicant — 710 Prop-
erties, operating on behalf of
the landowner Eden Central
map courtesy deschutes County
The Deschutes County Commission on Monday rezoned 710 acres of land northwest of Redmond from ag-
ricultural to residential use, allowing homes to be built on 10-acre lots.
Properties — seeks the zoning
change to allow up to 71 homes
across the acreage, or at least
10-acres per individual residen-
tial plot.
The company purchased the
land in November 2020 and is
planning a completely self-sus-
taining, solar-powered commu-
nity, according to Mark Stock-
amp of 710 Properties, which is
based in Sisters. There is already
one resident living on the land
that uses solar power, Stockamp
said.
“We need housing of all types
right now,” Stockamp said. “We
strongly believe every house
counts.”
The applicants partnered
with four nonprofits who will
receive some proceeds from the
development.
One of those is Furnish Hope,
a Bend-based organization that
donates furniture and other
home essentials to those in need
throughout the tri-county area.
Many have criticized the pro-
posal throughout the hearings
and approval process, which be-
gan in April.
“We’ve been proactive from
the beginning with understand-
ing the science behind our land
and what it’s conducive for,”
Stockamp said. “Really, what ev-
erything has pointed toward is
this land has never been farmed,
and so what is it more condu-
cive to?”
Per county rules, zoning
change applicants are required
to conduct a soil quality evalua-
tion and a traffic impact analy-
sis. Stockamp said they wanted
to better understand the land
before they began any devel-
opment. In addition to county
requirements, the applicants
hired a wildfire consultant, a
wildlife biologist and other envi-
ronmental and farming experts
to ensure ethical development,
Stockamp said.
One of those recruits was
Matt Cyrus, a sixth-genera-
tion Central Oregonian and
the president of the Deschutes
County Farm Bureau.
“There’s nothing about that
property that is agricultural,
quite frankly,” Cyrus said. He
raises hay, cattle and industrial
hemp in Sisters.
He said the land broken up
into 10-acre parcels would be
able to produce more agricul-
tural product than a large par-
cel like 710 acres. Smaller par-
cels open up the possibility for
hobby farms, greenhouses or a
few animals, Cyrus said.
Ultimately, it’s poor quality
land for cattle grazing, he said.
“Even a cow for grazing is go-
ing to have to chase the grass to
go find it,” Cyrus said.
Ian Isaacson, co-chair of the
Oregon chapter of Backcoun-
try Hunters & Anglers, is con-
cerned with the well-being of
mule deer populations that mi-
grate through Central Oregon
as seasons change.
“Any little disruption in their
patterns can have devastating
effects,” Isaacson said.
Any time migration corri-
dors are disrupted, wild animal
populations are detrimentally
impacted, and fawns, or young
deer, are at particular risk, Isaa-
cson said.
While Isaacson said he does
not want to see any type of de-
velopment on this land, this
particular flavor of scattered de-
velopment is worse than higher
density residences where open
spaces can still be left for wild-
life.
Three state agencies — the
Department of Land Conserva-
tion and Development, the De-
partment of Agriculture and the
Department of Fish and Wild-
life — opposed the changes in a
letter saying the soil evaluations
don’t paint the full picture.
Lands like these promote
open space, recreation, wild
animal habitats and a buffer
to protect working farms and
forests, the agencies said in the
joint letter.
“Remoteness, an absence of
basic services and a suscepti-
bility to natural hazards like
wildland fire are all reasons why
rural areas are not well suited
to residential settlement even if
they have little value for forestry
or agricultural production,” the
letter read.
Chang has opposed the pro-
posal since April. He didn’t
agree with the way the hearings
officer interpreted the situation,
he said.
█
541-633-2160
akaminski@bendbulletin.com
Country Natural Beef collects data for regenerative ranching
Redmond-based co-op
leads $10M study
BY GEORGE PLAVEN
CO Media Group
PHILOMATH — A small
herd of cattle grazed lazily on
a bright and sunny November
afternoon in the tall grass at
Dan Barnhart’s ranch along the
Luckiamute River, surrounded
by densely forested mountain-
sides.
It is a scene evoking the en-
vironmental ethos of Coun-
try Natural Beef, a Red-
mond-based, rancher-owned
cooperative that prides itself on
sustainable practices and animal
welfare.
The co-op is now working to
reinforce that ideology with sci-
ence. Earlier this year, members
began collecting baseline data
about their operations for a new
program, called Grazewell, that
will measure the overall health
of the land and suggest methods
for improvement.
Grazewell is supported by
a five-year, $10 million USDA
grant in partnership with Sus-
tainable Northwest, an Oregon
nonprofit focused on natural re-
source stewardship.
Advocates say the program
will be the largest climate-smart
ranching initiative in the U.S.,
sequestering up to 26 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide
over 6.5 million acres managed
by Country Natural Beef in 11
states across the West.
That’s equivalent to removing
1.3 billon cars from the road for
one year.
“We know ranchers can be
part of the climate solution
while also supporting clean wa-
ter and wildlife habitat,” said
Dan Probert, marketing direc-
tor for Country Natural Beef.
“We’ve seen it, and we’ve done
it. Now we’re going to measure
it, track it and prove it.”
The first step, Probert said,
is to gather baseline data from
each individual ranch, with help
from Sustainable Northwest.
Dallas Hall Defrees, regener-
ative ranching program director
for the nonprofit, said that work
involves assessing bare ground,
composition of grasses, soil or-
ganic matter and water infiltra-
tion, among other metrics for
healthy ecosystems.
Once the initial data is in
hand, Defrees said they can
then prescribe specific manage-
ment practices for ranches to
improve — things like rotating
cows to avoid overgrazing pas-
tures, and adding cover crops to
avoid erosion and water runoff.
After five years, Defrees said
they will revisit each ranch to
quantify the benefits.
“I think a lot of times, ranch-
ers are focused on the task at
hand,” she said. “So, I think it’s
really beneficial to look at the
science over a five-year period
to see, was this thing I was do-
ing working? Was it working as
well as I was hoping?”
About 40 ranches will be
enrolled in Grazewell each
year, starting with members of
Country Natural Beef and sev-
eral tribe-owned ranches. The
USDA grant also covers educa-
tional programs, training and
George plaven/Capital press
Cows graze in pasture at Dan Barnhart’s small ranch near Philomath, Ore.
Members of Country Natural Beef have begun collecting baseline data
for a new regenerative ranching program, called Grazewell.
George plaven/Capital press
From left: Dallas Hall Defrees, regenerative ranching program director for Sustainable Northwest; Dan Probert, marketing director for Country
Natural Beef; and Dan Barnhart gather at Barnhart’s ranch along the Luckiamute River in Western Oregon.
peer-to-peer working groups for
producers.
For Barnhart, he said his
ranch will likely be enrolled in
2023. He raises about 60 year-
ling cows each year for Country
Natural Beef.
Barnhart already practices
rotational grazing, dividing his
pasture into smaller paddocks
where cows graze for a few days
before they are moved. This al-
lows forage in grazed paddocks
time to regrow, increasing the
land’s productivity.
“The soil here is the basis of
what my farm will produce,”
Barnhart said. “The better care
I can take of the soils, the better
production I have.”
From a consumer perspective,
Probert said Grazewell will allow
the co-op to show how ranchers
are taking care of their land.
”All of us as ranchers are go-
ing to have to be able to tell the
story of the good things we’re
doing on the ground,” Prob-
ert said. “Grazewell will be just
one more attribute that will set
us apart from everyone else,
and that gives us leverage in the
meat case.”