News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 70
A newly formed coalition of forest advocates launched a campaign last week to designate millions of additional acres of Oregon's roadless forests as federally protected wilderness areas. The McCache vegetation management project on the Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest is one of "over 80 proposed federal projects that threaten pristine forest lands" in Oregon, according to campaign proponents. The 15,000-acre McCache project area lies between Black Butte Ranch and Mt. Washington, north of Highway 242.... Full story
More water will flow in Squaw Creek in the wake of a $260,000 grant from the Deschutes Basin Resources Conservancy to the Squaw Creek Irrigation District (SCID). Funds will be used to pipe three miles of the Cloverdale ditch and to increase the flow of water in Squaw Creek. The district will return to Squaw Creek between three and five cubic feet per second (cfs) of seasonal irrigation diversion. According to conservancy executive director Lisa Nye, the increased stream flows will not take water away from local irrigators.... Full story
Local farmers and ranchers are putting Squaw Creek water into the ground to recharge the underground aquifer this winter. The Squaw Creek Irrigation District (SCID) is participating in a regional effort to recharge the groundwater beneath the area's porous volcanic surface. According to SCID manager Marc Thalacker, the district will divert between 15 and 20 cubic feet per second (cfs) from Squaw Creek throughout the winter. "The water will flow through the main canal and into Watson Reservoir," Thalacker said. "But none of... Full story
The elusive and enigmatic Canada lynx may roam in the forests above Sisters. Surveys completed recently in the Deschutes National Forest generated at least eight possible lynx "hits" on specialized scratching pads, according to Sisters Ranger District wildlife biologist Laurie Turner. "Something came to the pads placed by biologists," Turner reported. "We have hair samples." The small pads are crafted from squares of shag carpet with a series of short, sharp nails protruding through the shag. Biologists nail the pads to a... Full story
As part of an effort to restore Glaze Meadow near Black Butte Ranch, the Sisters Ranger District will soon begin enforcing a ban of off-road vehicles from the meadow. The cornerstone of the Glaze Meadow rehabilitation project was the district's first-ever prescribed burn in a meadow habitat. Although the fire set a precedent in the district, Forest Service biologists say the project requires a multi-faceted approach to undo the impact of more than 100 years of cattle grazing. According to district ecologist Maret Pajutee,... Full story
The Sisters Ranger District will burn 100 acres on Glaze Meadow adjacent to Black Butte Ranch this week, in the district's first-ever prescribed burn in a meadow. The fire will scorch the world's largest population of the wildflower Peck's penstemon - and forest biologists are thrilled. According to district ecologist Maret Pajutee, the intentional torching of this historic grazing allotment will make history. "Prescribed burns are usually associated with timber sales or fuels reduction in the forest," Pajutee explained. "We... Full story
The sudden flow of late-summer visitors to Three Creek Lake has been hard on locally sensitive plant and wildlife habitat. Sisters Ranger District field ranger Kate Goossens reported that impatient recreationists drove their vehicles across Three Creek Lake's earthen dam on August 21 to access the Driftwood campground, which was blocked by a 70-foot-long snowbank. She explained that the "sub-alpine" habitat in the area has a very short growing season and that such extreme impacts on the ground can cause irreparable damage to... Full story
Firefighters quickly subdued a small, lightning-caused blaze near the summit of Black Butte last week, alleviating potential danger to the region's most important fire lookout. On Tuesday morning, August 24, Forest Service employee Larry Lohman smelled smoke on his way to work. Lohman hikes two miles to get to his "office," the lookout tower atop Black Butte. According to Sisters Ranger District assistant fire management officer Mark Rapp, Lohman smelled smoke that morning, but he could not see any sign of fire from the... Full story
Some volunteers on the Deschutes National Forest aren't satisfied with a free annual Trail Park Pass for the work they perform on local trails and recreation facilities. They also accuse the Forest Service of following a double standard in crediting volunteer groups for their time. Seasonal or day-use Trail Park Passes are required to park at most Deschutes National Forest trailheads. Day passes cost $3, and season passes can be purchased for $25. Forest officials offer a free annual Trail Park Pass to volunteers who work at... Full story
A small group of equestrians joined a national day of protest against trail park fees by staging a demonstration on Saturday, August 14, at the Sisters Ranger District administrative site. The group numbered fewer than 10 protesters and their single poster was not visible from Sisters' main thoroughfare, Cascade Avenue. But the handful of riders from the Central Oregon chapter of Oregon Equestrian Trails (OET) voiced their organization's opposition to the controversial Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (Fee Demo) implement... Full story
A Sisters Ranger District employee found a collection of syringes with hypodermic needles inside the steel canister of one of the district's newly installed "iron rangers" while he was collecting trail park fees on Sunday, July 25, off Forest Road 12, just east of Suttle Lake. The fee collection stations were installed earlier this season "to make it more convenient for the public to get a Trail Park Pass," according to Deschutes National Forest recreation program manager Mark Christiansen. Four steel tubes, known as "iron... Full story
Thirty years ago, Christian J. Scherrer made a deal with the City of Sisters: If the city would annex land owned by him and his partners, the Loe brothers, Scherrer would loan the town $20,000 for a water system. And the rest is history - although it sounds a lot like the present and the future. In past decades, Sisters faced the very same growing pains that confront city officials today. The fall of the local logging industry and the rise of tourism drew people to live in town; residential lots inside the city limits sold... Full story
The proposed redevelopment of Suttle Lake Resort will likely change the way people enjoy this Sisters country retreat. The U.S. Forest Service recently released the environmental analysis (EA) of the resort's master plan, offering three formal alternatives for the project. The choices range from leaving the resort as it is constructing a 10,000-square-foot lodge and a dozen 600-square-foot cabins. Alternative A is the "no action" alternative required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Sisters District Ranger... Full story
Sisters is one step closer to acquiring land for its sewage treatment facility with the passage of Senate Bill 416 on the Senate floor. The United States Senate passed a bill sponsored by Oregon Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden that would convey 160 acres of land known as "Section 9" to the city of Sisters at no cost, other than that of conducting environmental studies required by law. Section 9 is the proposed site for the city's wastewater treatment and disposal facility, which was approved by Sisters voters in May 1998.... Full story
Many local residents will soon have the option of high-speed Internet access when Bend Cable completes its installation of a new fiber-optic telecommunications system in the Sisters area. As part of the cable company's renewed franchise agreement with the City of Sisters, Bend Cable recently finished connecting a fiber-optic strand to its main switch off Camp Polk Road. The fiber line will replace the current microwave transmission system. According to Bend Cable General Manager Paul Morton, residents with cable television ac... Full story
The Sisters City Council recently approved a change in the speed limit for North Locust Street (also known as Camp Polk Road) from Highway 20/126. The speed limit will remain the posted 25 mph from the highway to Green Ridge Street. A 40 mph "transition zone" will be added from Green Ridge to about 0.2 miles north, just outside the Sisters City Limits. Frequent travelers of Locust Street/Camp Polk within the city limits know that the area has had a 25 mph limit for a long time. Apparently the City of Sisters posted the lower... Full story
Redevelopment could begin at Suttle Lake Resort as early as summer 2000. Proposed changes to the resort include a new 10,000-square-foot lodge and 12 cabins that would replace the existing campground. A revised master plan and a new environmental assessment (EA) were released last week after the Sisters Ranger District received considerable public comment on the original plan, released in April 1998. According to the Sisters Ranger District, community members said the original resort proposal "consisted of too much... Full story
Sisters resident Melanie Curry will walk the Honolulu Marathon in December to fight the disease that nearly took her life. Curry entered the December 12 Hawaii event to celebrate five years of remission from acute myelogenous leukemia. She will represent the Leukemia Society of America's (LSA) Team in Training program, hoping to raise $7,000 to support LSA's efforts to find a cure for cancers of the blood. "I've never done anything like this before, and I thought that it would be a great way to celebrate and give back for... Full story
Chuck Shepard of Coberg, Oregon recently purchased Hoodoo Ski Area for $1.6 million. Shepard is president of Umbrella Properties, Inc., a 25-year-old property development and management firm with 1,500 rental units in Eugene. According to Hoodoo office manager Dan Gruber, the sale was completed May 1, at the beginning of the company's fiscal year. Shepard has changes in store for the ski area, but he said that Umbrella's business operations will be a particularly good connection" with Hoodoo's current campground management pr... Full story
Four major timber sales and a collection of small sales could remove up to 13 million board feet of lumber from the Sisters Ranger District this year. According to district supervisory forester Slater Turner, the equivalent of approximately 77,778 18-inch trees would be removed if all the sales are completed. Three of the four major sales were previously put up for bid as part of the Santiam Restoration Project, but Turner said the sales received no bidders. "They were put up for bid last year," he explained. "But the chip... Full story
Carol Packard's sixth-grade class shared a taste of European culture last week in a French language performance at Sisters Middle School. Packard's 30 students studied French twice a week for four months under the tutelage of one student's French grandparents, Drs. Collette and Nicholas Gilroy, who now live in Bend. The retired professors are the grandparents of Packard's sixth-grade student Stephanie Yopp. The couple volunteered to teach the children the French story of a boy and girl whose Aunt Marla comes to visit them in... Full story
Sisters Mayor Steve Wilson visited the nation's capital last week to lobby for Sisters' sewer facility at a Senate committee hearing. Wilson stood before the Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources Wednesday, April 28, to testify in support of recently proposed legislation to acquire land for the Sisters sewer facility. Oregon Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden proposed Senate Bill (SB) 416 earlier this year. The bill would convey 240 acres of Forest Service land known as "Section 9" to the city of Sisters at no... Full story
Hundreds of tourists lined the streets of downtown Sisters last weekend. At least 125 of the weekend's visitors were part of three different church groups who scheduled retreats and conferences in Sisters for the spring weekend. McKenzie Baptist Church in Vida brought 65 women to Sisters to hear writer and teacher Debbie Hedstrom speak. Hedstrom hails from Salem but has a number of titles in print through Sisters-based Multnomah Publishers. A group of 50 students from Oregon State University in Corvallis came to town for a... Full story
The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) has eliminated Sisters Eagle Air from a list of small airports which were proposed for protection under new state airport planning rules. The decision means Deschutes County officials will continue to control land use and development at the Sisters airport, since the facility lies outside the Sisters urban growth boundary Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) aviation land use planner Tom Highland told The Nugget that the OTC wanted to take a closer look at the Sisters airport.... Full story
Vandals blasted at least four holes in a brand new Forest Service sign at the eastern entrance to the McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass Scenic Byway on Highway 242. According to a Deschutes County Sheriff's Office report, "unknown suspect(s) fired a 12-gauge shotgun and about a 9 mm handgun" at the sign located at approximately milepost 89 on the McKenzie Highway. A sheriff's deputy and a Sisters Ranger District law enforcement officer estimated that the shooting occurred between 9 a.m., March 1, and 11 a.m, March 17. Sisters... Full story
