The Preamble to the Lane County Watersheds Bill of Rights

Paula: This could be the most important political document of your lifetime. Lane County voters will say ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay’ May 19 on Measure 20-373, the Lane County Watersheds Bill of Rights. March 15 at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Michelle Holman: 

Michelle Holman: We, the residents of Lane County, understand that ‘All water within the state, from all sources of water supply, belongs to the public,’ (as stated in ORS 537.110,) even where it flows over private land; and we believe access to clean water is a natural right of humans and all other species.

In securing the health of watersheds of Lane County, we acknowledge that watersheds are living systems and possess the inherent right to exist, flourish, regenerate, and naturally evolve for their own sake, interdependent with and independent of human needs.

Omitted from this spoken version: Lane County watersheds are essential and vital ecosystems for a healthy environment. Our watersheds include the water and land area that drains rain and snow into rivers, creeks, lakes, wetlands, aquifers and the Pacific Ocean, within which all living things are inextricably linked.

We acknowledge that the First Peoples connected to these watersheds established and practiced a relationship of care, respect, and a deep sense of responsibility to ensure the health and vitality of the watersheds.

A healthy watershed conserves water; promotes streamflow; supports sustainable creeks, rivers, lakes, and groundwater sources; creates healthy soil; and provides habitat for wildlife and plants. A healthy watershed provides safe drinking water and food and enables adaptation of living species to the adverse impacts of climate change by cooling the air and absorbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Michelle Holman: Due to the ever-increasing contamination and demands of our watersheds, We, the Citizens of Lane County, declare our responsibility as defenders of these ecosystems to ensure their highest legal protection from degradation, loss of ecological balance, and all threats to their health and well-being.

Government has failed in its responsibility to the public by enacting laws that tolerate or permit the incremental degradation of watersheds and water quality. We assert that in order to protect our water and watersheds, we must shift governance away from policies that allow voluntary compliance, or directly permit pollution by entities who view nature only as lifeless property, and thereby merely regulate the degree of allowable harm to be inflicted on the watersheds.

Omitted from this spoken version: Pursuant to the right of self-government, as stated in the United States Declaration of Independence and protected by the Oregon State Constitution, if government repeatedly violates our rights, We, the Citizens of Lane County, have the right and responsibility to alter or replace that system with one that secures and protects our rights.

Michelle Holman: It has become necessary that we reclaim, reaffirm, and assert our inalienable rights and extend protections that provide legal standing and rights recognition to all watersheds in Lane County to ensure they are no longer subordinated as properties subject to harmful actions by unaccountable political and corporate entities.

Therefore We, the Citizens of Lane County, enact the Lane County Watersheds Bill of Rights, which establishes irrevocable rights for all our watersheds to exist, flourish, regenerate, and naturally evolve, free from contamination and degradation, and which thereby protects their integrity and natural diversity both now and into the future!

Presenter: Michelle Holman with The Preamble to the Lane County Watersheds Bill of Rights. You can learn more at ProtectLaneCountyWatersheds.org.