Few ballot measures have been as inappropriately titled as Measure 20-373, the Watersheds Bill of Rights. Please don’t be fooled by the title.

All of us, the residents of Lane County, want what is best for our watersheds. We want a healthy watershed that conserves water, promotes stream flow, supports sustainable creeks, rivers, lakes and groundwater sources, one that creates healthy soil and provides habitat for wildlife and plants, as well as safe drinking water for us all. My husband and I manage our family forest to grow sustainable timber and to do our part to provide a healthy watershed by following the Oregon Forest Practices Act.

Oregon was the first state in the nation to pass laws to promote healthy forests that protect watersheds. Measure 20-373 overrides these laws and subjects Oregon residents to many unintended consequences. 

Good public policy should rely on good science. Measure 20-373 does not. The measure allows any resident to sue governments, businesses, utilities and even small woodland owners such as my husband and myself without any data or scientific evidence, if they perceive damage to the watershed. Even when such lawsuits could not be won, they would take up time and resources much better used elsewhere.

Incredibly, the measure also allows anyone to take it upon themselves to intervene, on an Oregon resident’s property, if they perceive the watershed is threatened — again without data or scientific evidence, and without regard to the property’s owners engaging in lawful practices.

The Lane County Small Woodland Association’s Board of Directors, in company with Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioners, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, the Springfield Realtors board of directors and many other organizations and elected officials, oppose Measure 20-373. Please join us and other concerned citizens in voting against this measure. We need to keep science at the center of policy decisions. 

Wylda Cafferata
Dexter