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CORVALLIS - The Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University will host a roundtable symposium this Thursday to discuss the consequences of Measure 37, the initiative passed last year to compensate landowners when certain land use restrictions reduce their property value, or waive enforcement of current zoning laws.

The symposium will be Feb. 3, from 4-5:30 p.m. in Withycombe Hall Room 109 on the OSU campus. It is free and open to the public.

Measure 37 is the greatest departure from land use practices since Oregon's land use planning policies were adopted more than 30 years ago, many analysts say. The OSU symposium will address new challenges Oregon will face in the aftermath of passage of this measure.

Four panelists will participate, including former state Sen. Hector Macpherson, who authored the law that eventually governed Oregon's land use practices; former Sen. Cliff Trow, who witnessed challenges to this law through the 1980s and 1990s; Dick Benner, former head of Oregon's Department of Land Conservation and Development; and Ron Eber, an expert on agricultural land protection and exclusive farm use zoning.

Bill Lunch, a professor of political science at OSU, will moderate the discussions.

The symposium is part of the winter term 2005 lecture series in the Department of Geosciences, titled "Land as Society's Mirror: Human Dimensions of Landscape Change." More information on the lecture series can be found on the Web at http://www.geo.oregonstate.edu/events/seminar_series.htm.