The Biota exchange would sell 280 acres of Bandon State Natural Area, a premier coastal state park, to Bandon Biota, a company affiliated with Michael Keiser’s Bandon Dunes golf resort. The price: $2.5 million plus a couple of small parcels of land in exchange. The reason: to allow Bandon Dunes to build a sixth golf course. Former Governor John Kitzhaber applied influence-peddling to smooth the transaction through the Parks and Recreation Department. But this proposal, now undergoing federal scrutiny, would set a terrible precedent for Oregon’s well-known State Park system, as ORCA Executive Director explains in these two articles. Read more…
