News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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The race is on to underburn thousands of acres of local National Forest land before dry conditions set in for the summer. Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District, said that the service's current plans call for burning an estimated 4,000 acres this spring. Prescribed underburning is a process the Forest Service uses to reduce accumulations of forest vegetation that might otherwise pose a danger of wildfire. By controlling fire timing and intensity, the Forest Service hopes to eliminate... Full story
Deschutes Basin Land Trust Executive Director Brad Chalfant, right, studies Camp Polk features with volunteers Karen Allen and Reid Schuller. In 1865, a volunteer U.S. Army contingent from Polk County established the first non-native outpost in the Sisters area. One hundred thirty seven years later, the army is back -- with a mission to help restore Squaw Creek. George Medina is a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He was in Sisters last week to survey the old site of Camp Polk, which is now owned and... Full story
Jim Sternberg checks Chinook fry ready for release. Going by the textbook, Chinook shouldn't be found in such large numbers in the Metolius River. "Theoretically," said fisheries biologist Jens Lovtang, "the Metolius is poor Chinook habitat. Yet, for years, it supported a healthy Chinook population. "There's obviously something about the habitat that was good for Chinook." Lovtang was in the Sisters area last week to launch an Oregon State University research project aimed at evaluating habitat quality for Chinook salmon in t... Full story
The late season is a great season. There's thirteen feet of snow and counting at the local ski area. "We've had a great season," said Hoodoo General Manager Tasha McFarland, "our numbers are up, and our snow pack is way up." Last year, a sub-par snow pack caused Hoodoo Ski Area to shut down early, but this year it's an entirely different story. With snow continuing to pile up at Santiam Pass, Hoodoo is now making plans to add two weekends to this season's schedule. Just two weeks ago, the snow pack looked to be on a downward... Full story
Mark McIntire (left) and Mike Abbott own and operate Suttle Lake Tackle Company. "If you can't catch it with Suttle Lake Tackle, you probably can't catch it." Those are the words of Mike Abbott, Suttle Lake Resort manager and co-founder of one of Central Oregon's newest businesses. Abbott and Mark McIntire, who also works at the resort, partnered up to form the Suttle Lake Tackle Company, which specializes in meeting the needs of Northwest fishermen. "This past year," Abbott said, "there was some stuff we needed for fishing... Full story
Zaher Wahab is an American college professor with a message. Like the prophets of old, however, his words aren't necessarily greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm. Wahab, who has been with Lewis and Clark College for more than a quarter of a century, is a native of war-torn Afghanistan. In fact, he plans to travel there this week and, among other things, meet with interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He has been invited by the United Nations and the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education to help reshape Afghanistan's... Full story
The blame game Several weeks ago the Bend Chapter of Amnesty International sponsored a program entitled "Why Do They Hate Us?" The speaker was Homer Hepworth, who spent time in Afghanistan some 40 years ago. After his talk, it became obvious that many in the crowd were there to play the "blame game." These were people who weren't there to listen. They were there to fix blame, and they'd already decided where the blame belonged. These were members of the blame-America-first cabal. Their declarations-disguised-as-questions went... Full story
spring burning plans With winter snow receding at lower elevations, the Forest Service is making plans for its spring controlled burning in the Sisters Ranger District. Local foresters are continuing their long term program for reducing fire danger and improving forest health. "The weather is warming and the skies are clear and dry, so we could be doing some significant burning as early as (this) week," said Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District. Due to the lack of recent snowfall,... Full story
If there is such a thing as a knight in shining armor for fish, Mike Riehle fits the part. The local Forest Service biologist has spent much of his career keeping an eye on fish populations in and around Sisters. After years of protecting fish habitat in the Metolius River Basin, Riehle has landed a well-deserved promotion as Supervisory Fisheries Biologist for the Sisters Ranger District. For years, Riehle filled a temporary assignment created to facilitate fisheries studies associated with the Pelton Round Butte Dam... Full story
One American frailty that I'm prone to rail against -- probably because I share the guilt -- is our collective obliviousness to other nations and cultures. Further, you'll have to agree with me when I say that Central Oregon is hardly a crossroads of cultural diversity and understanding. In pleasant contradiction to that premise, however, is the High Desert Forum. Created to "increase the level of public debate and discussion regarding concerns of our day," the forum brings public policy issues to Central Oregon. Last week... Full story
Deb Riehle at Ground Zero. When Camp Sherman resident Deb Riehle returned to her hometown of New York for the first time since the September 11 attacks, it turned into something of a pilgrimage. "When I saw the attack on TV, my first thought was for the people on the planes," she recalled. "Then I thought, 'I hope the buildings don't fall down.' Of course, by the time I got to school they did." Riehle is a mathematics teacher at St. Francis School in Bend. "In light of what happened, we decided to go back for Christmas. It... Full story
One more mission The orders came directly from the Commander-in-Chief: Lead a normal life, spend money, and travel. Although I retired from active service five years ago, I still know what to do when an order is handed down. Actually, the "normal" aspect of the directive proved the most difficult since I've never really figured out exactly what "normal" is. If anything, I try just a bit not to be too "normal," but I can still put up a pretty good front when circumstances require. The "spending" part was easy. By the time... Full story
Dayton Lamphear and his grizzly. Patron after patron peeked into the Soda Creek Gallery last week to catch a glimpse of Dayton Lamphear's nine-foot tall sculpture of an Alaska brown bear. Word of the massive creation seemed to get around quickly, as people rushed to see the giant work of art before it departed for Alaska. As it turned out, however, snowy weather gave local art connoisseurs a viewing reprieve. The sculpture will remain at the local gallery at least through the first week in January. The public is invited to... Full story
Glen Corbett surveys the remains of the historic Black Butte tower. For more than 65 years, the historic Forest Service fire lookout tower stood like a sentinel atop Black Butte; then, suddenly, it was gone. Al Chase is a local resident whose home looks out on Black Butte. On the morning of Friday, December 7, he looked up at the million-year old cinder cone and noticed something different. "I can look out my computer room window and look right at it," he said. "Right away, I noticed that it was gone." Forest Service... Full story
The crew (left to right): Ryan Karjala, Ted Creason, Gary Hughes, Mike Berg, Dave McConnell, Dave Snow. Not pictured: Dan McDonald and Dave Culver. If the ill-fated pioneers of the Donner Party had been able to call upon the Oregon Department of Transportation snowplow crew in Sisters, they might not have had to resort to.....well, what they resorted to. Fortunately, those of us in the Sisters area don't need to worry about being trapped for months in the snow, and we've come to take the appearance of the plows for granted.... Full story
Roj Marchand and Jennifer Comstock are manning a weather station in Sisters. First came the six foot chain link fence enclosure at Sisters Airport, and people wondered, "A really big dog run, perhaps?" Then came the porta-potty, and "Maybe a very small minimum security prison," was one of the more amusing conjectures. When the truck arrived with all the antennas, gizmos and gadgets, there was only one possible conclusion: Mad scientists. As it happens, they don't seem to be all that mad, but they sure enough turned out to be... Full story
The Forest Service is providing some festive holiday lighting out in the forest these days. For the last several days, isolated fires could be seen burning in wooded areas around Sisters -- particularly along Highway 20 near Black Butte Ranch. The controlled burn signs were up again, and smoke wafted across the highway. The smoke, however, wasn't nearly as dense as that created by some of the earlier projects that involved underburning whole forest sections in the same general area. Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management... Full story
Are we a nation of one-night stands? What do Sisters and Estonia have in common? It's kind of a trick question, because I don't know the answer, either. Since Russian troops withdrew from the Baltic states in 1994, we no longer hear much about those former Soviet republics. How about Nicaragua? Remember when the deluge of information on that Central American nation rivaled today's flood from Afghanistan? We lavish attention on the glamorous international intrigue that potentially impacts us and, then, we move on. It's sort... Full story
Ski season has arrived... Hoodoo, the popular family ski area at the top of Santiam Pass, opened as scheduled on Friday, November 30, and there was plenty of the stuff that skiers like best -- snow. Lots and lots and lots of snow. In fact, by the end of opening weekend, the reported snow base was more than 4-1/2 feet. Forecasts call for even more snow in the coming week -- a prospect that has skiers elated, especially after last year's sub-par snow year. "This weekend has really been a whirlwind," said Hoodoo General... Full story
Beverly Bauges surveying the Trout Creek Swamp. She is a member of a GIS special analysis team. Like most of the stream basins in the Sisters area, Trout Creek has seen the tampering hand of man. Forest Service officials say that Trout Creek Swamp is an old grazing site that has been tinkered with since at least the 1930s. At the time, the land was used for grazing and ditches were dug to drain the swamp in order to create drier pastureland for cattle. Alterations to Trout Creek's tributary system continued on into the... Full story
Heading home with the prize. Unlike big city dwellers, local Christmas tree seekers have an alternative to the corner Christmas tree lot. Ever since European settlers began moving into Central Oregon nearly a century and a half ago, Christmas tree cutting expeditions in the local forests have been a Christmas tradition. In support of that tradition, the Deschutes National Forest annually sponsors a tree-cutting program for the cost of a $5 permit. Today, there are a few more rules and regulations than the early pioneers... Full story
For the general public, the ways of the U.S. Forest Service sometimes seem more than a little mysterious. However, according to Maret Pajutee, ecologist for the Sisters Ranger District, that's not the intent; and the Forest Service would like to see more citizen participation in its planning. In one effort to take the mystery out of Forest Service planning, Pajutee recently mentored a college student seeking to learn about environmental processes. Camp Sherman resident David Moskowitz is enrolled at Arizona's Prescott... Full story
Catholics gathered in the new prayer garden at St. Edward's. Last week, Saint Edward's Catholic Church in Sisters dedicated a much-needed addition to its main sanctuary. Fueled, in part, by the popular oratory of Father Tom Faucher, the little church at the western edge of town has been bursting at the seams for the last several years. Starting in 1963, with just 24 families from Sisters and Camp Sherman, membership has grown to nearly 200 families. On any given Sunday, the size of the congregation is approximately doubled... Full story
Beth Mitchell. The year was 1994, and it happened in two quick steps. First, Beth Mitchell chose Sisters as the place she wanted to live; then, she decided to be a paramedic. She got what she wanted on both counts. With her many outdoor interests -- snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, and fishing -- choosing Sisters was the easy part. In fact, she signed up for her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training in order to qualify for a ski patrol job -- something she never pursued after getting a taste of EMT... Full story
David Brandon, killed in action in Viet Nam, May 29, 1966. Sunday November 11 is Veterans Day, and perhaps no other Veterans Day in recent memory carries as much meaning as this one. All too often, we take the men and women of our Armed Services for granted. To our credit, this is probably not one of those times. Veterans represent every race, color, creed, religion and all those other compartmentalizations that we seem driven to create. Yet, they are all Americans. When I hear the word "veteran," I rarely think of myself.... Full story
