Conservation Alliance grantee Central Oregon LandWatch has succeeded in its campaign to secure a protective designation for the 500,000-acre Metolius River Basin in Central Oregon. The new protections halts two proposed destination resort developments, and ensures a permanent ban on such developments in the future. LandWatch won these protections when the Oregon legislature passed a bill declaring the Metolius Basin an "Area of Critical Statewide Concern." The Metolius is legendary for its fly fishing, and for its headwaters, which literally spring from the ground at the base of Black Butte.