1000 Friends of Oregon's Position On Population Growth

Adopted by 1000 Friends of Oregon Board of Directors
July 8, 1996

From our foundation, 1000 Friends of Oregon's mission has been to help Oregon manage growth, not work on measures to curb population growth. We believe our effectiveness is attributable in part to focusing our work on this mission. We will continue to devote ourselves to helping Oregon managing its growth wisely, rather than trying to affect the rate of population growth at the national, state or local levels.

This does not mean that we are ignorant or indifferent to the consequences of population growth nor that we will always be neutral with regard to particular efforts to promote or discourage population growth in communities or regions in Oregon.

We think it is unwise for state policies and programs to promote job and population growth in areas already experiencing rapid population growth. Job and population growth should be promoted in areas with declining populations and/or unemployment that is significantly higher than the rest of the state. In these areas, state efforts that promote population growth may be appropriate, if they are part of a broader economic stabilization and diversification effort.

We believe there is merit in exploring coordinated regional approaches to the allocation of population growth between cities in a region. A regional approach can allow communities to reallocate growth among themselves in a way that is better for those communities and the region, while fulfilling state policies on housing affordability transportation, economic opportunity and the protection of farm and forest lands and natural resources.