The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

To the Editor:

Save Sisters’ trees!

It was shocking to learn that what I thought was simply the limbing up of a monumental ponderosa pine by the City or C.E.C., was actually a majestic ponderosa pine being felled by a Redmond company, with no City permit to do so, hired by a property owner who wrongly believed the tree was his.

On the morning the magnitude of this majestic tree claimed its final resting place along Larch Street, our entire house and those of my neighbors reverberated from its now dead weight. I cried. This corpse lies witness to the decision-making of one overzealous resident. Its neighbors await the City’s response.

We are a “Tree City.” So why is it that Sisters residents are cutting down huge, shelter-giving ponderosas? Because they’re messy? Inconveniently located?

Unless the illegally-felled 150-year-old ponderosa on Larch Street was your neighborhood tree, you would likely have no idea of the shelter and beauty this elder pine provided. I’m sure the folks who live and walk on Pine Street, where a similar extermination took place last year, share our collective, sobering grief.

At this historic time in history, when nature affords most of us the single most restorative antidote to the craziness, why are some Sisters residents interested in turning our tree-lined streets into treeless, urban walkways? If these huge ponderosas are such an inconvenience, please consider living elsewhere and leave Sisters trees standing tall for future generations.

Kay Grady

To the Editor:

A gentleman passed last week, alone in his truck in the Deschutes National Forest; we believe he was approximately 86 years old.

Bill was a proud man.

He spoke often of his service to our country as a U.S. Marine for 25 years, and of his three daughters.

What we know about his past is only what he told us; we cannot attest to his accounts.

We are, however, comfortable in describing Bill as a good man, at times a little difficult and a bit loud but a man who was sensitive and wanted friendship.

We met Bill last year while hiking the Deschutes.

My dog came upon him, startled him for a moment, and then this strong Marine revealed a gentle and loving nature as he interacted with Cassy.

I need to believe that Bill passed peacefully and that he has other friends in Sisters who will pray for him and remember him.

We certainly will.

Lt. Chris Salisbury, USMC Foundation