Photo: Tyler Roemer.

A New Vision for a New Era

Apr 09, 2021 by Sarah Mowry
Last year, as we celebrated our 25th anniversary, we also took the time to plan for the future. Our Board and staff dedicated themselves to a series of visioning sessions where we asked the big questions. The end result: an updated vision and mission for the next 25 years of strategic land conservation.

Questions? Contact our team!

Do you have questions, kudos, or other feedback? Let us know: info@deschuteslandtrust.org


The Land Trust has been dedicated to conserving and caring for land in Central Oregon for more than 25 years. Last year, as we celebrated our 25th anniversary, we also took the time to plan for the future. Our Board and staff dedicated themselves to a series of visioning sessions where we asked the big questions. What is our vision for the future? How will we accomplish this vision through our mission? The end result: an updated vision and mission for the next 25 years of strategic land conservation.

Our Vision:
We envision a future of strong and healthy natural and human communities—where we work together to conserve and care for the lands that make Central Oregon an incredible place to live, work, and grow.

  • With the population of Central Oregon continuing to grow and our climate rapidly warming, we protect the rivers, forests, canyons, meadows, and agricultural lands that Central Oregon will need to thrive for generations to come.
  • We conserve lands that are strong and adaptable to the changing climate and that sustain functioning natural systems, abundant native plants and animals, clean air and water, and healthy local communities.
  • All people have an opportunity to meaningfully connect with this place, so that together we can build an interconnected community of people committed to protecting and caring for the lands we all love.


Our updated vision maintains a focus on our core work to conserve the lands and waters we all need to thrive. What’s new? Our vision emphasizes working together to ensure healthy communities for people and nature. We also elevated the importance of climate change and the cascading impacts it has the natural world as we care for the land. Finally, our vision reflects the desire to equitably connect all people to the land so we can work together to care for it.

How will we accomplish this vision? With our updated mission: We conserve and care for the lands and waters that sustain Central Oregon, so local communities and the natural world can flourish together for generations to come.

This mission reflects our core emphasis to conserve AND care for the land forever, as well as the idea that it is the land and water that support us all. Finally, it reflects our strong belief that when we all work together, we can all thrive together.

Stay tuned for our new strategic plan later this year which will detail our goals and objectives to meet this ambitious vision and mission! We look forward to sharing it with you.