The Central Oregon community has made one thing very clear: we do not support the development of the Thornburgh destination resort.

The Department of State Lands was considering selling a parcel of land to allow the resort developers to expand. Thousands of people, businesses, and organizations signed a letter of opposition. On a March 9 Zoom call, I watched hundreds of people attend the hearing, and every single speaker was against this sale of land.

The concerns included water for farming, the impact on current residential wells, the impact on resident wildlife and mule deer migration, the disruption to hiking and biking trails, the overall environmental impact, and more.

Recently, the proposed Thornburgh Resort backed out of the sale of land, but still has a lease on the land for 10 more years.

Many alarmed residents, myself included, once believed plans for this water-thirsty resort were a done deal. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

This proposed development has been mired in legal battles since it was proposed over a decade ago. The latest issues focus in on the resort’s controversial use of water.

Circumstances today are much different than when plans for development were initially presented. Central Oregon’s population was much smaller, and we were largely unaware of the looming water crisis that was ahead.

Today, it is not an understatement to say Central Oregon faces a drought of epic proportions, breaking a record over 1,200 years old. Last month, OPB published an explosive report on the severity of groundwater scarcity in Deschutes County, reporting wells going dry and the water table dropping at a shocking rate.

Farmers in Jefferson County are forced to let their fields go fallow, springs are drying up, and reservoir levels are critically low. Over the past 10 years, Deschutes County residents have deepened an average of 29 wells per year.

Last year, that shot up to deepening 60 wells, and so far, this year the problem is worse and more than 1,100 new wells have been drilled since 2020 alone.

Underground aquifers can take hundreds of years to be restored naturally and that is without wells pumping water. Meanwhile, a controversial resort developer is making deals to find water.

The resort has already purchased a portion of the rights from Brooks Resources’ Tree Farm development. The Tree Farm is a high-end development on the west side of Bend where its large homes didn’t need their water for the original intended purpose: farming.

According to the OPB article, Thornburgh could use up to 6 million gallons of water each day, surpassing the city of Prineville (pop. 10,000) over the course of a year.

The Deschutes Basin cannot support this thirsty resort development, with three golf courses, artificial lakes, and luxury housing.

The impact of water conservation is also critical to protecting the environment and that means future growth must done responsibly considering long-term consequences.

This brings me to two looming questions:

1. What are our elected officials doing to help conserve Central Oregon’s water?

2. And, given what we know about the water crisis in Central Oregon, why is the Thornburgh Resort moving forward with development?

This isn’t 2003 or 2013 when decisions were made without knowing about a future drought and depletion of water sources.

Deschutes County can stand up for water conservation and stewardship, rather than look the other way when precious water is sold to the highest bidder. Our elected leaders determine the fate of potential developments like Thornburgh, and they still have a chance to stand up for the interests of Central Oregonians.

Let’s remember that when voting this fall.

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