SAVE SKYLINE FOREST
Between grand mountain peaks to the west and the vast expanse of high desert that spills out into the east, the 33,000-acre Skyline Forest landscape provides us with bountiful opportunities for outdoor adventure and is essential to our unique quality of life here in Central Oregon. Saving Skyline Forest from unsafe and unwise development is vital to Central Oregon wildlife, wildfire safety, water, and outdoor access.
WATCH: FACES OF SKYLINE FOREST
A new video series about the Central Oregon communities with a stake in the future of Bend’s backyard forest.
Skyline Forest is central to what we love about Oregon
Skyline Forest is an indelible part of Central Oregon to community members and visitors who have lived beside and explored this special landscape. The effort to save Skyline Forest is nearly two decades in the making. It has always been an important place for our community, but now there is renewed urgency to protect this place once and for all.
Central Oregon’s real estate market is booming. The impacts of climate change on this landscape are mounting. The recent elimination of long-standing public access to Skyline Forest due to fire risk and the unprecedented drought gripping Central Oregon are both linked to and exacerbated by rising average temperatures in a warming world. Iconic Central Oregon wildlife species that depend on Skyline Forest are facing new threats and shrinking habitats.
Now is the time to ensure this special place remains a vital, intact part of Central Oregon’s livable future.
A community conservation campaign
The Save Skyline Forest campaign goal is to permanently conserve this area for wildlife, wildfire safety, water quality, and outdoor access that is paramount to the wellbeing of Central Oregonians and our communities.
Central Oregon LandWatch, community partners, and conservation organizations in Central Oregon are working diligently to forge a path towards a lasting and equitable solution that will meet the needs of the ecosystem, prioritize water quality and wildfire safety, and ensure sustained public access to Skyline Forest for all.
Ready to step up for the place you love? Join the effort to Save Skyline Forest.
Updates
September 2023
Saving Skyline Forest was highlighted as a ‘Game Changer’ project in Envision Bend’s five-year Vision Action Plan.
November 2022
Over 1,100 Central Oregonians and 63 local businesses and organizations called on elected leaders to help save Skyline Forest.
September 2022
The listing price for Skyline Forest was reduced from $127M to $95M.
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Skyline Forest is a vast and intact forest that borders the Deschutes National Forest and our communities in Bend and Sisters. The mountain vistas to the west of town rise above this swath of ponderosa forestland. The area is beloved by many locals who affectionately refer to it as “Bend and Sisters’ backyard.”
This massive area includes places like Three Creeks Butte, topping out at 5,489 feet of elevation. Over a dozen intermittent and ephemeral streams flow through Skyline Forest from the Cascades foothills into Tumalo and Whychus Creeks. These waterways are essential sources of cold, clean water for the iconic Deschutes River. This connected system of streams and tributaries is the lifeblood of our region, providing water for our communities and supporting regional fish and wildlife species.
The forest also provides access to the outdoors located just minutes west of Bend in the form of rugged ridgelines and rocky outcroppings that delight outdoor enthusiasts. Bikers, hikers, birders, and day-trippers alike enjoy Skyline Forest for recreational opportunities.
And each year, mule deer and elk migrate from higher elevations in the mountains to their winter range in Skyline Forest. Here, they are able to escape some of the snow and find the nutrition they need to make it through the harsh Central Oregon winter.
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Surrounded by public lands and the Deschutes National Forest, it may surprise many a Central Oregonian to discover this beloved 33,000-acre area is actually privately owned. For generations, Bendites and visitors have enjoyed informal access to these lands granted by various private landowners. Historically, Skyline Forest was managed as commercial timberland known as Bull Springs Tree Farm. Since 1988, local conservation and community groups have been working to conserve this iconic area from development. During this time, the working forest has balanced timber production with recreational and ecological values.
But now, that balance - and Skyline’s future - is uncertain. The recent fire risk closure is an unprecedented change to the broad public access that has been afforded to the area for decades.
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Ownership of Skyline Forest has changed hands multiple times over the past four decades. In 2015, all 33,000 acres were acquired by the international investment group Whitefish Cascade Forest Resources LLC., which has since become known as Shanda Asset Management LLC. The Bull Springs Skyline Forest property is currently for sale on the market for $95 million. This is well above the property’s timber value, and it is being advertised as a prime development opportunity for a destination resort or large-scale, luxury development. This means that any future buyer would need to develop the tree farm for sale in some capacity to recoup their sizable investment and make a profit.
Large development projects would pose serious threats to the forest’s value for wildlife, water, and wildfire safety. The effects of certain types of developments can negatively impact the quantity and quality of water available to Central Oregonians, fish, and wildlife. The Deschutes River system depends on an inflow of cold, clean water from both Tumalo and Whychus Creeks. These seasonal flows bring fresh, cold water into the upper Deschutes, lowering the overall temperature during the hot summer months when temperatures could otherwise reach lethal levels for fish.
The forest’s recent closure due to fire risk, active fire history, and close proximity to Bend also illustrate the escalating risk posed to our growing cities and towns by climate change-driven wildfires. Large-scale fires have burned through thousands of acres of Skyline Forest over the past decade. Some have burned alarmingly close to Bend, prompting evacuations of entire neighborhoods near Shevlin Park. It is critical that Skyline Forest remains free from large-scale, luxury development because of its highly fire-prone conditions. Whether Skyline Forest is conserved or developed will have a direct impact on our community’s ability to navigate the changing reality of wildfire in Central Oregon.
Explore Skyline Forest
Unsafe & Unwise for Development
We have a responsibility to evolve where our communities grow and avoid unsafe development on land in the wild-urban interface. Due to its fire-prone ecology and current zoning, Skyline Forest is not a safe or wise place for development.
Water & Wildlife
Many species of Central Oregon wildlife depend on the resources and habitat Skyline Forest provides for their very survival, including a stream network that supports the Deschutes River with high-quality water.
Outdoor Access Nearby
One thing that makes Central Oregon so appealing is the abundance of readily available opportunities to get outside. Skyline Forest offers respite and adventure aplenty for residents and visitors alike.