Guest Column

The Thornburgh’s began ranching and farming 400 acres in Terrebonne in the 1920s acquiring 1,500 acres on Cline Buttes in 1953, along with grazing rights on 30,000 acres of BLM Land for summer pasture.

In 2003, JELDWEN offered to buy the Thornburgh’s Cline Buttes property to expand Eagle Crest. Instead, we began planning the Thornburgh Resort. The conceptual master plan was submitted in 2005 and approved by the Board of Commissioners in 2006. In 2018, Thornburgh received approval of the final master plan. Prior to construction, we began a significant reassessment of amenities and the resort’s overall resource management resulting in numerous adjustments, including:

This month Thornburgh submitted a plan to Deschutes County planning committing to:

• Reduce water use by foregoing the building an approved golf course,

• Reduce water use by replacing some planned lakes, irrigated parks and green space in favor of natural landscaping,

• Employ resource-sensitive landscaping for all resort amenities and homes to better steward our environment

These commitments allow Thornburgh to reduce the resort’s water needs from 2,129-acre-feet per year to no more than 1,460 acre-feet. This equals average consumption of about 787,000 gallons per day, or:

• a 35% reduction in consumption

• a 43% reduction in resort-amenity water usage

• less than two-tenths of 1% of water use of 775,000 acre-feet in the Deschutes Basin.

Thornburgh water use for all resort related facilities is 663 acre feet per year. For context this is about the same amount of water required to pasture 55 horses in Tumalo.

Thornburgh isn’t creating new water uses or increasing water usage in the basin. Instead, it purchased certificated water rights already in use and stopped pumping the water allowed under those rights. That water is presently left in the aquifer and river reducing water usage in the basin and increasing flows in the river. This largely occurs during the critical summer period when flows are lowest and temperatures the highest.

This increased summertime flow, or excess mitigation will continue for decades, ultimately accumulating to roughly 24,000 acre-feet more stream flow than the resort withdraws, or roughly 17 years of the resort’s full use. Not only is the resort reducing its water needs and increasing stream flow, over 2/3rds of the excess mitigation is cold groundwater Thornburgh is leaving in the aquifer ultimately to be discharged into the river. Once there, the cold groundwater cools stream temperatures improving fish habitat.

While the approved master plan contains 3 golf courses, construction of each course requires site plan approval. In its approved site plan for the initial golf course, planned by renowned minimalist architects Coore and Crenshaw, and built by Whitman Axland and Cutten, Thornburgh notes irrigated turf areas are held to the bare minimum. Majestic old growth trees are retained with native grasses to blend golf into the natural surroundings with as little impact as possible.

Thornburgh voluntarily reduced by 20% the amount of overnight lodging, reducing impacts to water, traffic, and wildlife. This reduction was approved by Deschutes County.

Thornburgh is also implementing a program of juniper thinning on about 4,000 acres of juniper forest on BLM lands. Juniper removal can restore water flows by up to 1-acre-foot per four to five acres managed. Thornburgh’s efforts mirror other regional programs to restore water flows lost to Juniper expansion. Deschutes County is promoting Juniper thinning while Crook County is pursuing large-scale programs to reduce Juniper coverage to restore stream flows.

Central Oregon is a secret no more. As people come, they need lodging, facilities and housing, which strains the shortages existing today. While we cannot stop people from coming, we can provide for them responsibly.

While Thornburgh’s original plans proposed density of only one-third what the code allowed, with 30% more open space than the minimum required, it also had elements that didn’t steward resources efficiently.

Thornburgh has made dramatic changes since, to lower impacts on natural resources, with more planned. Thornburgh is defining responsible development.

As we continue to adjust, Thornburgh will become the most environmentally-conscious master planned community in the West, if not the United States.

Do you have a point you’d like to make or an issue you feel strongly about? Submit a letter to the editor or a guest column.