Celebrating Conservation Wins in the 2023 Oregon legislature!
The Oregon legislature just wrapped up its 2023 session, and we’re excited to celebrate some great news for conservation! The legislature passed many of the initiatives we worked hard for, helping to make landscapes healthier for nature, people, and local economies. Here are the highlights:
Passage of Natural Climate Solutions legislation, helping Oregon better respond to the climate crisis by supporting carbon sequestration, adaptation, and mitigation on natural and working lands. This includes forests, farms, ranches and natural areas. Thank you to Senators Dembrow and Golden and Representatives Marsh and Neron for their steadfast support.
Creation of a new source drinking water protection program, providing funding to help water managers and local governments acquire and protect their source drinking watersheds and forestlands. This helps local governments also access federal funding available to protect drinking water source areas. Thank you to Representatives Helm and Owens for their incredible help.
All 36 Oregon counties now have access to funding and support to develop a local energy resilience strategy, furthering our state’s climate goals even more and helping local communities develop microgrids, clean energy projects, and more. This will decrease energy costs and improve reliability in many communities. Thank you to Representatives Marsh and Owens for their hard work.
Legislators formally defined “renewable hydrogen” this year, helping Oregon capture federal investments and catalyze a renewable hydrogen industry to accelerate the clean energy transition. Thank you to Representative Marsh, Senator Sollman, and all the legislators who worked to pass this bill balancing opportunities for economic development and ensuring strong climate and environmental standards.
There were a lot of initiatives passed to address the increasing number of severe wildfires in Oregon, including a new fund to provide incentives to landowners conducting prescribed burns on their property. Controlled, prescribed burning can help reduce risk from future wildfires. The law also encourages private insurers to provide coverage for prescribed burns. In a separate bill, legislators moved to require insurance providers to disclose what types of wildfire mitigation activities might help maintain coverage or even reduce insurance premiums, which in the past had not been clear. Thank you to Senators Golden and Dembrow, Representative Marsh, Governor Kotek, and many more legislators for being champions for wildfire solutions and community safety.
The legislature also moved to continue funding two important programs that help landowners prepare for wildfires, including continued support for activities that increase forest resilience, reduce wildfire risk, and support ecosystem restoration. In another bill, legislators also approved funding to protect homes and communities from wildfire with measures such as defensible space treatments around homes, and home hardening that makes homes less flammable. Thank you to Senators Golden and Dembrow, Representatives Marsh and Pham, Governor Kotek, and many more leaders in the legislature for their steadfast support on these initiatives.
Dylan Kruse
Director of Government Affairs & Program Strategy
dkruse@sustainablenorthwest.org
