News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Aspen Lakes near Sisters, in cooperation with The Trumpeter Swan Society (TTSS), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW), and benevolent members of the Aspen Lakes homeowners, is about to become involved in an exciting wildlife project. There are only three trumpeter swans in the breeding program in Oregon, and of these, only one now has a mate. Other participants include the Sunriver female whose mate was recently shot and killed,... Full story
There is a forgotten agricultural product all over the West that's causing thousands of wild birds and mammals to suffer: barbed wire. A long way back in the history of the "Taming of the West," steel companies began manufacturing a new combination of steel wire with sharp barbs attached, capable of causing serious injuries to any human or farm animal who came into contact with it. It is still used today, and very effectively, to keep livestock from wandering into prohibited... Full story
One of the benefits of having a state-of-the-art community-built greenhouse so handy at Sisters High School is the doors of opportunity it opens for students. Recently, with the help of Audrey Tehan of the Seed to Table project, 14 students from Glen Herron's biology class got into farming in a big way. According to Tehan, "The main goal of the class is to foster a deep understanding and curiosity about our agriculture systems. It is a vast topic of biology, socioeconomics,... Full story
The Oncken brothers, 9-year-old Ezra and 11-year-old Nicolas have spent their lives growing up with the sounds of violin strings as a part of their lives. Elder brother Nicolas can distinctly remember the first time he heard a violin and how powerful that moment was - and so can his mom, Akiko. "From that first day Nicolas heard the sweet sounds of the violin he spent hours practicing his love of the instrument by holding a frying pan under his chin and using the first stick... Full story
In the entire US of A there is only one golden eagle nest being monitored by web cam at this time, and it's right here in Sisters Country. And thanks to the East Cascades Audubon Society (ECAS) - who is paying to have the images streamed around the world, land-owner Leslie Lawrence, who watches over the camera equipment, and Sisters Astronomy Club technician Jim Hammond, who keeps the equipment going, all you have to do is wiggle your mouse and go to: goldeneaglecam.com and... Full story
In order for a student to go out into the world thinking big, he or she sometimes finds it necessary to take a really good look at the tiny things in life. One of the best methods for doing that is to use a microscope, and last week the Sisters High School students in Rima Givot's science class were at it up to their ears - a few of them even pulling their hair(s) out. The students had water from a pond, old pieces of newspaper tissue, roots of plants, blood slides and other s... Full story
One of those marvelous phone calls came in the other day about "wild turkeys" messing up a Sisters resident's porch - and I mean really messing it up. There was turkey poop at least an inch thick all over the back porch that fell from turkeys spending the night in pines towering over the home. Turkeys eat; turkeys poop. That's just the way it is. And there's a lot of 'em here in Sisters Country. The big reason the turkeys perch over that poor woman's home is that her neighbor... Full story
Three Sisters High School chemistry students - seniors Ethan Ferwalt, Ashonte Hull, and junior Amy Hills - have been selected, through a competitive process from world-wide applicants, to join a group of students in Brussels, Belgium, to send near-space experiments up in an atmospheric balloon. The three students designed their experiment during chemistry classes this last fall, and then chose the option to enter it in the Asgard Balloon Project. They were selected. The... Full story
If there's one thing Sisters High School science teacher Rima Givot loves to do, it is teach astronomy to her students - and to anyone else who will listen. That's the reason she keeps the universe rolled up and stored away in the high school. Last week, she got her students Amy Hills and Rylee Funk to give her a hand hauling her portable planetarium - with attached universe - into the school's conference room, hook it to the air compressor and in a huff-and-a-puff, it was... Full story
One of the developments I did not foresee when I rolled into Bend on my Harley in 1951 was that in the year 2018 I'd find myself helping trumpeter swans. Trumpeters were once found throughout North America, but by 1933 fewer than 70 wild trumpeters were known to exist. Extinction seemed imminent until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeters around Alaska's Cooper River. Since then, careful reintroduction by wildlife agencies and the... Full story
Pam Nord of Sisters came home and found a so-called, "chicken hawk" caught in her chicken pen fence. There were no chicken feathers or parts strewn about, so she immediately focused on the plight of her not-so-friendly visitor. The hawk was well attached to the fence, in such a manner that it looked impossible for it to escape without the assistance of human help. Hawks are killers, and in order to do their killing efficiently they use a pair of muscular legs equipped with... Full story
Fifth- and sixth-graders at Sisters Middle School were treated to a program about the elephants of the Namibia Desert of Africa on Monday, November 27. Don and Linda Miller, elephant researchers from Whidbey Island, were in town to deliver a similar message to the folks of the Sisters Country the next day in a Sisters Science Club/Friends of the Sisters Library event at The Belfry. Don Miller is a great believer in getting people involved in his talks, and true to form, he... Full story
Yes, I admit, I've done it to every one of my six children and 13 grandchildren: I've exposed them to the beauty and the role of spiders in our lives. It was so beautiful in my house when my kids were growing up. Never once did I hear a scream and the shrill cry of alarm, "It's a spider!" Instead it was usually, "Hey Dad, here's one I'll bet you've never seen before." I knew who the "one" was: an eight-legged member of the arachnid family. Then the fun would begin. "How many... Full story
The Sisters High Desert Chorale came under new direction this spring when Connie Gunterman was chosen as choral director following the retirement of Irene Liden. Connie brings over 25 years of choral-conducting experience. "I grew up in a musical family in rural Kentucky, where music was always a part of my life," she said. "My mom's family formed a regional gospel quartet, and my earliest memories have a soundtrack of four-part harmony. Music gave me opportunities and... Full story
One of fastest and most aggressive beetles crawling, running, and chasing other invertebrates on the surface of our home planet can be found on the Oregon Coast: the tiger beetle. With apologies to my good pal, great artist and musician Dennis McGregor, I stuck a head-on photo of an adult tiger beetle on the head of the tiger, and another crawling up its body, like he likes to do. The only similarities or associations tiger beetles have with tigers is the manner in which the... Full story
An environmental biking tour set up for kids in the Metolius/Camp Sherman area is worth going on about. It's specifically run for kids and it's operating in the forest on hiking/biking trails around Camp Sherman with the goal of getting kids into their natural environment and paying attention to what they're seeing. Can't beat that with a stick. Heather Walden, a bright-as-a-spotlight, up-and-coming young mom thought it up. She got to looking around her and noticed kids with... Full story
Back in 1966, when Multnomah County began a five-day Outdoor School program for all sixth-graders in their system, Betty Gray of Portland - wife of John Gray who got Sunriver and several other Oregon-based projects going - thought her life-long dream of kids learning in the forest had at last come true. The Gray Family Foundation, whose slogan is, "Outdoor School For Everyone," through the efforts and assistance of the Oregon Community Foundation, has kept Betty's dream... Full story
Last Saturday was a high-flying day for the 48 members of the Sisters High School Flight Science class. They all got together at Sisters Eagle Air at 9 a.m. for a day to head out for the Erickson Aircraft Collection Museum in Madras. Getting from Sisters to Madras and back can be achieved several ways: A bus would work; so would car-pooling. The students went another way: plane-pooling. Several Sisters airplane-owners - members of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) -... Full story
In light of all the fires that took place this last summer, and the controlled burns slated for fall and spring, Sisters Middle School is again sending the fifth-grade students off to the High Desert Museum (HDM) on different days to learn what fire is all about from supervisor Carolyn Nesbitt and her staff. The title of the program was "Fired Up," and she did exactly that to every one of the students in Tanya Young's fifth-grade class. One of her students, Zach Thies, said,... Full story
"There's three birds over the butte on the east side, just under those puffy clouds," Chuck Gates said, looking through his binoculars. "Got 'em," Peter Low responded, getting his scope up to his eye. "Looks like turkey vultures." That's the kind of conversation that goes on most of the day during the East Cascade Audubon Society's (ECAS) annual Green Ridge Hawk Watch, an event that's been going on for over 10 years in Sisters Country. Anyone interested is welcome to join... Full story
Who would think an insect that weighs less than a paperclip could bring so many people together for such a heart-warming time? One family drove all the way from near Yakima, Washington, to attend a butterfly party in the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center last week. Jeri Buckmann, membership and visitor center manager, went out of her way on her so-called "day off" to open the Chamber office, rearrange everything to accommodate the expected crowd coming to... Full story
If you've looked at watercolors, oil, or just plain black-and-white art and said to yourself, "I wish I - and my kids - could do that..." give Sisters Park & Recreation District a call and connect with Jodi Schneider McNamee; she can get you started. Teaching watercolor is number-one on Jodi's list of what she loves to do in life. So, last March she decided to really promote herself as an art teacher and began an art program at SPRD. She started teaching an adult class on... Full story
The Milli Fire that's been so hard on the breathing and vision for people living in Sisters Country has impacted the wildlife as well. While no one in the Crossroads subdivision lost their homes to the fire, wildlife in the Milli Fire area have lost everything they need to make a living, with some exceptions. The large animals have fled, of course; deer, elk, bear, coyote, cougar, bobcat and such are equipped to flee when fire destroys their homes. But for some species the... Full story
If you go to your children's or grandchildren's house for a visit and just use your camera to record the activities of family, please enlarge the "family." We share our magnificent old world with so much other life, and with the current photographic tools we have at our fingertips today, it seems to me we're missing a wonderful opportunity if we don't take a moment and record as much of other family life as we can. Take the porch light, for example. If you leave it switched on... Full story
One day last week, Ann Richardson's husband, Clyde, was just coming into the house out on Whychus Creek when a large flock of rock doves went flashing by his place. When he looked again, there was a strange pigeon perched over a doorway to his house. When he went in for a closer look, the bird didn't fly off, but allowed him to get close enough that he could see a black band with the number 15 on one leg. What do you do when a pigeon, looking like a domesticated rock dove, or... Full story
