For the second time since 2024, the committee tasked with choosing a new landfill site for Deschutes County is getting ready to make a final recommendation.
The County’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee went back to the drawing board last summer after property negotiations stalled over a 440-acre gravel mine called the “Moon Pit” 15 miles southeast of Bend. Now, the County is banking on a different site working out. Any further delays could push the project past the current landfill’s projected closing date in 2031.
“It’s a process that hasn’t been done in 30 years in Oregon,” Deschutes County Solid Waste Director Jeff Merwin told the Source, referring to siting a new landfill. “I think we can assume there’s going to be some challenges along the way, but we feel we can still achieve that timeline based on what we know now.”
The most likely delay would be a land-use appeal or litigation, Merwin said. That could result in the County having to ship trash outside the County until the new landfill is built, Merwin said.
The advisory committee reconvened April 21 following a new report with a detailed analysis of two finalist sites completed by Parametrix, the County’s engineering consultant. The committee is expected to make a recommendation in May or June. The Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners will need to give final approval for the site.
The two finalist sites lie 16 to 24 miles southeast of Bend along U.S. Highway 20. One is a partial gravel mine at the base of Horse Ridge, a federal recreation area and trail system. The other, called Roth East, is a swath of undeveloped ranch land a few miles north of 6,500-foot Pine Mountain, home to an observatory and other outdoor opportunities.
Each is large enough for a landfill with 80 million cubic yards of space, the same volume as about 24,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The new landfill is expected to last 125 years.
The County initially expected Knott Landfill, its current dump site in southeast Bend, to fill up by 2029, but a reassessment last year bought an extra two years of life. That’s fortunate for the County, because officials expect land-use permitting and facility design to take until 2028, and construction another several years after that.
The County’s 2019 Solid Waste Management Plan first officially identified the need for a new landfill, along with other new facilities for repurposing yard waste and construction materials. In the 2010s, as Deschutes County’s population grew by 40,000 people, its annual waste stream soared from 354 million pounds to 540 million pounds — about 3,000 pounds of trash per person, per year.
Competing concerns
Named for ranch owners Stephen and Clancy Roth, the Roth East site was the runner-up in 2024, but the County passed due to concerns over Greater sage-grouse habitat, other wildlife and distance from Bend.
Sage-grouse — a chicken-sized bird of conservation concern that relies on a mosaic of High Desert sagebrush for feeding and nesting, indicating the overall health of the ecosystem— may still be the biggest barrier to building a landfill at the site.
In an August 2025 letter, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife urged the County to avoid Roth East, citing state law that prohibits large-scale development on sage-grouse habitat unless there is no other place that’s “technically or financially feasible.” The wildlife agency’s survey maps show “low density” sage-grouse on parts of the property. If the County did go ahead with a landfill there, it’s likely to cost between $4 million to $8 million in habitat mitigation.
Members of the selected committee said that rule may not leave the County with much of an option considering the Horse Ridge site doesn’t seem to have technical or financial flaws that would make it unfeasible.
Local environmental groups have also warned against Roth East due to wildlife concerns. When the Moon Pit site fell through, they’d hoped the County would broaden its search to smaller sites closer to cities and away from connected wildlife habitat east of Bend.
The Horse Ridge site has its own concerns from the public — especially the mountain biking community. In a December 2025 letter to the committee, mountain biking nonprofit Central Oregon Trail Alliance wrote that a landfill abutting the popular 45-mile trail system on the slopes of Horse Ridge would mar views and fresh air while potentially interrupting trail access.
Horse Ridge would be more challenging and expensive to excavate. Development costs are pegged at $63 million — nearly twice as much as Roth East. But Roth East would cost the County more over its 125-year lifespan, largely because of extra hauling costs.
And acquiring property at Horse Ridge may be more difficult. The County will have to piece together a sale with three different property owners including the Oregon Department of Transportation and Hooker Creek, the construction company with which negotiations dissolved for the Moon Pit last year.
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