For nearly half a century, Oregon’s citizen activists and governments have been leaders in the national movement to tame or at least rein in the runaway urban sprawl voraciously consuming the country’s open space ever since the post-World War II population and economic booms ignited in the 1950s.
Yet, during that time, hundreds of square miles of sensitive natural habitats, scenic vistas and historic Oregon farmland have fallen victim to developers’ and governments’ bulldozers as Oregon officials have failed to accommodate population growth within exiting urbanized areas. Between 1982 and 2015, Oregon lost 419,000 acres (656 square miles) of open space as the state’s population grew by 1.3 million.
