Jun. 23--In a stunning reversal from last week, the Oregon House passed a bill Monday extending unprecedented state protection to the Metolius River basin.

The 31-28 vote sends House Bill 3298 to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has fought to get it passed. It will make the Metolius an Area of Critical Statewide Concern, a never-before-used designation that strictly limits development.

In a brief and a fairly unemotional 10-minute debate, Rep. Larry Galizio, D-Tigard, said he had changed his mind and supported the bill. Galizio said he switched following a "convincing" phone call from the governor and "an outpouring" of letters and contacts from the public.

Kulongoski moved to create the new protections after developers launched plans for two destination resorts near the river.

Protecting the Metolius might have seemed like a political no-brainer as the Democratic-dominated Legislature convened in January. Environmental groups such as Central Oregon Landwatch were on board, as were two powerful state senators, Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, and Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, whose families have homes on the river.

Thousands of Oregonians weighed in, most of them supporting protection of the river, which emerges from the ground near Black Butte and flows north through ponderosa pines into Lake Billy Chinook.

But the plan proposed by Gov. Kulongoski, also a Democrat, ran into another powerful Oregon political institution -- the state's land-use process.

Galizio initially opposed the bill because of the sense that the state was usurping Jefferson County's authority. The economically beleaguered county gave its tentative approval to two destination resorts in the Metolius basin late in 2006.

"My concern was the perception of the state coming in, subverting a local land-use decision," Galizio said. "In some sense that would legitimize the rhetoric of those who want to completely dismantle Oregon's land-use system."

Also complicating the debate was a savvy political campaign waged by Jim Kean, the Portland high-tech entrepreneur turned real estate developer who proposed building an "eco-resort" on his land west of the river. Kean argued that his "Metolian" resort would have little impact on the basin and could help foster Oregon's image as a world center of green development.

Opponents said there was no way Kean could build a 420-home subdivision four miles from the river's headwaters without hurting the basin.

Kean and Jefferson County also made the case that they'd been dealt with unfairly.