Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon is buying its first new state forest in 70 years. As Amelia Templeton reports, the State Forestry Board hopes that purchasing the land will help contain suburban sprawl.

The State Forestry Board approved the purchase of 43,000 acres of lodge pole and ponderosa pine along Highway 97 south of Bend.

It’s part of a larger tract of forest that the Gilchrist family managed for 100 years.

Chair of the Forestry Board John Blackwell says that even though the forest was logged in the nineties it is still a beautiful spot.

John Blackwell: "It’s rare to find an acreage of this size, especially in central Oregon. So when the Gilchrist became available it was not so much that we were looking, as it was just an opportunity for Oregon that was simply too good to pass up."

The new state forest will be about half the size of Portland, and the state hopes to add additional land.

Blackwell says it will be used for recreation, wildlife, and timber and will serve as a bulwark against Bend’s suburban sprawl.