The fate of Oregon’s future is in voters’ hands right now. Voter turnout has been frighteningly low for our current election in Oregon. Increasing turnout is critical to passing Measure 49, the ballot measure to fix Measure 37 and protect Oregon’s farms, forests and watersheds from sprawling subdivisions, big-box stores, strip-malls and gravel pits.

Please email or call all your friends, family and coworkers in Oregon and remind them to vote Yes on 49 and drop off their ballots at a ballot box.You can also tell coworkers and neighbors that you can collect ballot envelopes on Tuesday with the pledge to carry them all to a ballot box before 8 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Ballots must be dropped off at a ballot drop off site by 8 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 6. It is too late to mail in ballots. Ballot drop off site locations are listed HERE.

A YES vote on Measure 49 is the only way to stop the damage unleashed by Measure 37: massive subdivisions, strip malls and big box stores on farm land, threatened water supplies, forests, and special places that we have so carefully protected over the years. The timber industry and developers who stand to make a fortune from an unchanged Measure 37 have already spent $2 million on misleading and confusing ads.

The fate of Oregon is on the ballot in less than nine weeks. Measure 49 is the upcoming ballot measure to protect our home — to safeguard those things that make Oregon Oregon. M 49 will fix Measure 37 and protect Oregon from unchecked growth. The work in the next couple of months to pass Measure 49 will determine whether hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, forestland, mountains, coastal areas and special places in Oregon will be safe, or whether land speculators will turn Oregon into a land of strip malls, sprawling subdivisions, open pit mines and traffic jams.

The passage of Measure 49 is the only way to prevent the destruction of the Oregon we love and the stakes couldn’t be higher…

Measure 37 passed in the 2004 election and not only threatens farms, forest land and open spaces, but has opened up Portland, Bend and other Oregon towns and cities to dangerous, unchecked development such as more Wal-Marts, huge billboards, and buildings without height limits. There are already about 8,000 claims for developments including 6,000 housing subdivisions in the works.

The question is whether or not citizens like you and me will step up to the plate and provide the resources and volunteer hours needed to pass Measure 49. Fighting the misleading campaigns that big land speculators are launching is going to be a challenge, but it’s better than the alternative — unchecked sprawl and the destruction of Oregon’s farms, forests, waterways and open spaces.

I encourage you to visit the Yes on Measure 49 website to learn how you can help.

I was devastated when property-rights ballot initiatives recently swept across the U.S. The campaigns actively deceived voters into thinking that they were voting for fairness to property owners. In reality, the initiatives allow speculators and developers to threaten Americans’ quality of life, as well as our valuable farms and forestland.

The Oregon experience with this kind of anti-planning law has shown us that more than anything, these initiatives are clever ploys to deliver windfall profits to a few at the expense of their neighbors. The ballot measure that passed in Oregon, Measure 37, now allows big timber companies to lay claim to turning coastal forests into sprawling subdivisions, and allows corporations to transform productive farmland into gravel pits and strip malls. Many residents of Oregon’s rural communities face serious threats to their drinking water quality, as well as to the availability of scarce water resources, due to Measure 37.

Oregonians have become alarmed at the havoc that Measure 37 will create and are demanding legislative reform. Opponents, however, are fighting at every turn, and are trying to convince legislators that poorly planned development is acceptable in Oregon. Now is the time to speak up and demand reform of this deeply flawed law. Whether by email, phone or in person, the Oregon legislature needs to hear that you want Measure 37 to be reformed, so that it is fair for all Oregonians.

1,000 Friends of Oregon is fighting at every turn and they need your help. Go to www.friends.org to learn more and find out how to take action.