Lincoln County Community Rights

USA

In Lincoln County, Oregon, in the northwestern United States, a group of residents formed this organization to help members of their community protect “their fundamental rights, their natural environment, their quality of life, their health and their safety”. It led to Lincoln County working with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and becoming the first county in the United States to ban aerial pesticide spraying through a vote of the people in 2017. The rights-based law included recognition of the “rights of nature” of their local river, the Siletz. CELDF filed a lawsuit on behalf of the riparian ecosystem.

To learn more, visit the LCCR website or read these articles on the initiative from Truthout and Shareable.

Photo by Rio Davidson