Oregon’s common ground isn’t a myth. It’s our landscape.

Timber wars. Salmon wars. Water wars. For decades, Oregon’s natural resources have been framed as a series of conflicts.
They don’t have to be. 

In a state as geographically and politically diverse as Oregon, foundations, nonprofit organizations and communities can help us find our way out of conflict by working in the radical middle — the space where most Oregonians already agree.

Carlos Garcia, OCF Senior Program Officer, Environment

What does the radical middle look like in a state as diverse as its landscapes?

It looks like a state where 90% of voters across political parties agree that we have a moral responsibility to protect natural areas and habitat for the plants, fish and wildlife. One where 77% agree that clean air, clean water and undeveloped open spaces are critical to keeping Oregon's economy strong. Those findings come from a survey commissioned by the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts and funded by Oregon Community Foundation, where I am the senior program officer for the environment.

That’s the radical middle: the place where Oregonians may not agree on everything, but still agree on what’s essential. We depend on healthy lands and waters for our livelihoods, our health, our recreation and our sense of place. The fish and wildlife that share this state with us also depend on them.

When we place that basic agreement at the center of our decisions, we can find common-sense solutions to steward our forests, farms, ranches, rivers, wild spaces — and strengthen our economy.

Conservation land trusts are one such solution. Across Oregon, more than 20 nonprofit land trusts and their partners have conserved nearly 800,000 acres of natural and working lands. More than 100,000 of those acres — across 118 places —are open to the public, which means land trusts have almost as much land open to the public as our state parks system. A land trust works with willing landowners and communities to conserve land for the long term, by acquiring land or through conservation easements, which are legal agreements that limit future development. In doing so, land trusts help protect the natural, agricultural and community values of land.

Wallowa Root Gathering courtesy of Wallowa Land Trust. Photo credit: Sarah Kleinhanzl

Conservation and stewardship of these lands hold promise for finding common ground, and this is a moment for land trusts and their partners to lead. What makes land trusts especially valuable in this moment is that they are rooted in their communities and operate on a simple premise: local people can act to solve complex challenges. While urban and rural communities face different opportunities and challenges, all can choose the radical middle. 

These projects already exist in Oregon. Protecting habitat and drinking water sources while actively managing forests. Prescribed burning and forest restoration so that wildfires are not catastrophic. Productive local farms and ranches to support the next generation of producers and a thriving food and beverage industry. 

Restoring a landscape without restoring the people, however, is a futile exercise. This bold idea is illustrated by the Trust for Public Land’s recent work with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians to acquire more than 5,800 acres of forestlands. The tribe will restore the lands to improve ecological conditions and conduct sustainable forest management, while reconnecting tribal members with their ancestral homelands. 

Across the state in eastern Oregon, partnerships with ranchers, tribes and public land managers are helping improve habitat while supporting working lands. At Trout Creek Ranch, conservation has not meant leaving people behind. It has meant better stewardship, stronger local relationships, tribal access to traditional homelands, and more flexibility for ranching families.

Oregon Community Foundation and its donors support this conservation work through a collaboration with the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts and the Land Trust Alliance called the Oregon Lands and People Project. This five-year effort is strengthening nonprofits and equipping their leaders and staff with the resources to conserve, restore and care for Oregon’s air, lands and waters while expanding community and tribal partnerships. 

Philanthropy has an important role to play. Public funding matters enormously but philanthropy is often poised to move more quickly than larger public dollars, to strengthen local organizations and to experiment with and scale up solutions. While many look to the public sector to resolve conflicts, philanthropic organizations can also take on a leadership role in bridging divides.   

So how do we move forward? 

When I hear that we are too divided to find solutions, I ask: “What will always be true?” 

Having seen people working together from the urban center of Portland to the eastern border and the South Coast and all across our remarkable state, ultimately, what I believe will always be true is this: listening to people matters, relationships matter, human and ecological well-being are connected, and our common ground lies in the forests, farms, deserts, wetlands, rivers and coast that keep Oregon, Oregon.

What you can do:

• Read more about the Oregon Lands and People Project, a partnership of Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, Land Trust Alliance, and Oregon Community Foundation.
• Visit oregoncf.org/environment and learn more about the Oregon’s Lands and People Fund at OCF.
• If you have a donor advised fund, please contact your donor relations officer.
• If you’re new to OCF, our philanthropic advisors can help you make the most of your giving.