State Land Board OKs $1.6 million land sale for new Redmond readiness center

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ)– The State Land Board on Tuesday approved several property transactions, including the sale of 20 acres in Redmond to the Oregon Military Department for a new readiness center.

The new center, which would replace an existing 65-year-old armory, would serve as both a training facility for the Oregon National Guard and an essential facility for supporting the community during emergencies.

“When constructed, this new readiness center will be a resilient facility that is more capable of surviving, and being a local and state asset, during an earthquake or other natural disaster,” Stan Hutchinson, OMD director of installations, told the Land Board.

The $1.66 million sale is part of a broader collaboration between the Department of State Lands, OMD, the city of Redmond, Deschutes County and other partners.

The overall 945-acre project includes expansion of the county fairgrounds and creation of new large-lot industrial land that’s expected to attract technology businesses and bring more family-wage jobs to Central Oregon.

Other land transactions approved by the Land Board Tuesday will:

• Help conserve habitat for the endangered Fender’s Blue butterfly. The Board approved releasing 382 acres of state-owned subsurface mineral rights to surface property owner Oak Basin LLC, to obtain a conservation easement for permanent protection of oak and butterfly habitat in Linn County. 
• Enhance the entrance to South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Charleston. The Board approved the purchase of 1.14 acres adjacent to the existing South Slough Reserve entrance. The purchase will allow for immediate property improvements, like clearing dead vegetation to reduce wildfire risk, and also position the Reserve to submit future grant proposals for entrance upgrades. 
• Release 45 acres of state-owned subsurface mineral rights at the former Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility in Marion County to the surface property owner Watch Hill Capital LLC.
• Create eight acres of new lands in Upper Klamath Lake for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s expansion of Highway 140.

The Land Board also directed DSL to explore a potential donation of 2,700 acres in Malheur County – an acquisition that would help protect the endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout, a species on the brink of extinction.

Western Rivers Conservancy purchased the acres to secure ownership of one of the last remaining Lahontan cutthroat trout isolated strongholds in the Northern Great Basin.

Donating the acres – which include rangeland and irrigated meadowland – would ensure public ownership and ongoing access for species restoration projects. Cattle grazing on the donated land could provide significant income for the Common School Fund. 

DSL will conduct due diligence on the potential donation and return to the Land Board with a recommendation.

About the State Land Board and the Department of State Lands: The State Land Board consists of Governor Kate Brown, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and State Treasurer Tobias Read. Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the Land Board oversees the state’s Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the Land Board’s administrative agency, managing the lands and resources that help fund Oregon’s public schools and protecting the state’s waterways and wetlands for the many benefits they provide.