News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 70
An early spring storm didn't dampen the spirits of over 150 participants in the 49th John Craig Memorial Ski Classic. The Sisters-area event commemorates the efforts of John Templeton Craig who died on McKenzie Pass in December 1877, attempting to bring the Christmas mail from the Willamette Valley to Camp Polk near Sisters. Organized by the Oregon Nordic Club, the event features a ski tour, three races and a commemorative mail-carry, where skiers retrace the approximate route followed by Craig from the west to the east snow... Full story
The Forest Service recently began its environmental assessment on 240 acres of public land known as "Section 9," which may be conveyed to the City of Sisters for a wastewater treatment and disposal facility. Forest officials are seeking community feedback for the EA which addresses the proposed sale of Section 9 under legislation known as the Townsite Act. The city is also trying to obtain the land through legislation proposed in the U.S. Senate by Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden. Libby Bottero, who campaigned against... Full story
Forest officials are trying to make the two-year-old trail park fee program more "user friendly." Deschutes National Forest has unveiled a new fee and permit structure for local forest users in the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Public feedback in the first two years of the program prompted the changes. "If we're going to have user fees in the National Forest system, they have to be simple to use and understand," said Sisters' District Ranger Bill Anthony. The 1999 trail park pass will be required at all 66 trailheads... Full story
A group of Sisters-area residents are not happy with federal legislation on Sisters' sewer submitted February 11 by Oregon Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden. The pending legislation would convey 240 acres of Forest Service land known as "Section 9" directly to the City of Sisters. Section 9 is the proposed site for the city's wastewater treatment and disposal facility. Controversy surrounds a section of the bill that would require the Forest Service to sell at least six acres of the Sisters Ranger District administrative... Full story
Oregon Senator Gordon Smith introduced a bill to Congress on Thursday, February 11, that would convey 240 acres of U.S. Forest Service land to the City of Sisters for wastewater treatment and disposal. Passage of the legislation, co-sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, would transfer ownership of the land known as "Section 9" to the City of Sisters at no cost to the city, other than that of preparing an environmental assessment of the site. "The people in Sisters should not have to live every day concerned about a possible... Full story
People living in the forest, human-caused fires and garbage are among the human impacts that concern local officials in the forested urban areas surrounding Sisters. The Sisters/Why-chus Watershed Analysis, a "state of the forest" study conducted by the Sisters Ranger District, identifies the forest-urban interface as an urgent priority in managing local wildlands. According to the report released in October 1998, "Illegal or harmful activities are increasing, including dumping, resource damage by on- and off-road vehicles,... Full story
Over 40 residential lots in the Sisters city limits lie in the Squaw Creek floodplain. At least five homes lie inside the boundary of the "100-year flood." According to the Sisters/Why-chus Watershed Analysis released by the Sisters Ranger District in October 1998, "Squaw Creek is subject to large floods and is a serious threat to homes and structures within its floodplain." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a study on the Squaw Creek floodplain in August 1978, which acknowledged that, "some residential and... Full story
Deschutes National Forest officials will deploy human hands, insects, chemicals and fire to battle noxious weeds invading the forest. Forest Supervisor Sally Collins released her decision December 10 to treat 166 of 235 known weed sites. Chemical herbicides will be applied at 40 sites on 476 acres. A total of 1,531 acres will be treated by all methods. According to the Noxious Weed Control Environmental Assessment released September 1998, 16 species of aggressive, non-native plants threaten native plant communities in the... Full story
The Sisters Ranger District has approved the placement of up to 15 "camping cabins" at Suttle Lake Resort. According to Jeff Sims, lands forester with the Sisters Ranger District, the Forest Service will amend the resort's permit with a "categorical exclusion" to allow the cabins without requiring an environmental assessment. "The environmental effects are none or less than the current use," said Sims. "It's not a ground-disturbing activity." The absence of biological survey protocols recently put a roadblock in Suttle Lake... Full story
The Sisters Ranger District will proceed with road-closing plans along the Metolius River, but at least one Camp Sherman resident is voicing his opposition to the project. The U.S. Forest Service issued its Record of Decision (ROD) in May, 1997, for the Metolius Wild and Scenic River Management Plan. Forest Service plans include closing certain roads to reduce water quality impact and wildlife disturbance and to enhance wildlife habitat. One of the sections proposed for closure was a 1.5-mile stretch of Forest Road 1419-700,... Full story
Suttle Lake project Six rare and obscure flora and fauna species may be present at Suttle Lake Resort and until Forest Service biologists can survey the area, the resort's pending redevelopment project remains on hold. Earlier this spring, Suttle Lake Resort owners unveiled a proposal to expand the existing facilities to include cabins and a new lodge and entrance road. Public response to the proposed master plan prompted the resort to scale back its proposal and a revised plan was released in September. The Forest Service re... Full story
Black Butte Ranch will add 80 acres to its boundaries. The Deschutes County Planning Commission, on Thursday, November l2, approved the inclusion the land owned by Black Butte Ranch into the resort boundaries. Although the ranch owns the property, it lies outside resort boundaries at its northwest corner. The land was historically part of Black Butte Ranch since Brooks-Scanlon developed the property in the 1970s, according to BBR General Manager Loy Helmly. "This is not an expansion of the ranch," explained Helmly. "All we... Full story
After losing money for two consecutive seasons the Sisters Folk Festival will be absent from Sisters' event schedule in 1999. "The festival is going dormant for at least one year," announced Dick Sandvik, festival director and chair of its board of directors. "We will stay incorporated as a 501(c)(3) (nonprofit organization) and will probably have some conversations about ways to restructure the festival." In its four-year history, the Sisters Folk Festival has only sold out one concert, when Ian Tyson performed at Sisters... Full story
The City of Sisters has yet to secure the land necessary for a sewer plant, but city and U.S. Forest Service officials say they may be close to a deal. Nearly all options for a land swap have been exhausted in the city's quest for property to exchange for Forest Service land that has become known as "Section 9," the proposed site for the sewer facility. "We haven't totally abandoned opportunities for an exchange," said City Administrator Barbara Warren. "There is one good-sized parcel possible but we haven't had a chance to... Full story
A former forester in eastern Oregon has found himself at the center a debate over the effects of Measure 64 in eastern Oregon forests. The authors of Measure 64 , which would heavily restrict many forestry practces including clearcutting, claim to have based their eastern Oregon clearcutting criteria on the private Oberteuffer Forest in Elgin, Oregon, outside La Grande. The forest's former owner denies such collaboration. "I had on my forest no criteria for the number of trees to be left per acre," said Bill Oberteuffer,... Full story
If Oregon voters approve the "anti-clearcut" measure on the November ballot, they may get more than timber harvest restrictions. But precisely what they will get seems to depend on whom they ask. The cornerstone of Measure 64 is the ban on clearcutting on federal, state and private forestlands in Oregon. Between Sisters country and the Idaho border, the legislation would require that a minimum of "60 well-distributed trees that measure at least 10 inches diameter" be left on any acre of a harvest unit. "Many, many, many stand... Full story
Squaw Creek Irrigation District staff and volunteers plan to rescue fish stranded in their canals and return them to district ponds following their seasonal shut-down later this month. State law requires a permit to transport live fish, but irrigation district Manager Marc Thalacker says the district doesn't need one since the fish are being moved within district waters. "These are fish in our system and we're just returning them to our system," Thalacker said. "We do a systematic shut-down, canal by canal," he said. "We... Full story
About 9,300 acres of forest land along Highway 20 will be mowed, thinned or burned over the next five to 10 years. The forest lies adjacent to Highway 20 between Sisters and Forest Road 14 and is surrounded by private land, such as the Black Butte Ranch, Tollgate, Cascade Meadows Ranch and Indian Ford subdivisions. Only trees less than eight inches in diameter will be cut, which means there will be no commercial timber harvest. Some thinning activity may provide sufficient material for commercial sale of posts, poles, or fire... Full story
Staff on the Sisters Ranger District will be cut back 15 to 25 percent over the next three to five years, as nationwide trends in National Forest funding trickle down to the Sisters Ranger District. Projected workforce reductions will shrink the Sisters District from 90 summer employees in 1998 to between 68 and 77 employees by the year 2003, with no anticipated layoffs, according to Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony. The Deschutes National Forest released its first ever "Business Plan for Workforce Management" on April... Full story
After changing hands eight times in as many years, the 840-acre Alder Springs Ranch will finally rest in public ownership. A host of environmental groups converged on Sisters City Park Friday, September 18, for the final dedication of the Alder Springs in-holding. Surrounded by the Crooked River National Grassland, the property lies 14 miles due northeast of Sisters. The ranch is a significant addition to the grassland, which hosts 8,000 mule deer in the the Metolius winter range, according to Trust For Public Land (TPL) mate... Full story
Ultraviolet radiation and a harmful fungus may pose a threat to a rare form of the long-toed salamander living in the Three Creek watershed south of Sisters, according to Oregon State University scientists. While studying Three Creek's amphibian populations, OSU Zoologist Andy Blaustein recently discovered a unique form of the long-toed salamander which may be a distinct, endemic species. "This (salamander) grows a very different type of skull and jaw structure under certain conditions and we don't know why," Blaustein said.... Full story
Despite ongoing criticism, the Forest Service's "pay to play" Trail Park Program has weathered its second full season, bringing $25,000 to the Sisters Ranger District for local wilderness projects. The Recreation Fee Demo Program began in 1997 to try to generate local revenue in the face of tight federal budgets, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Funds raised from Trail Park Passes are to be used to keep up local trails. While forest officials vehemently defend their access to locally managed funds, the program continues... Full story
Three truck drivers have taken a long look over the steep edge of Highway 242 since August 25, learning the hard way that travel restrictions over McKenzie Pass are not to be ignored. One driver managed to keep his wheels on the road with a little help from a local escort; the others wrecked , but escaped injury. Art Davis, owner of Davis Tire and Towing in Sisters hauled the rigs out of the wrecks. According to Kathleen Davis at the dispatch helm, the first truck slid off the highway at milepost 67 on Tuesday, August 25 at 1... Full story
Lightning sparked a 150-acre blaze Wednesday, August 19, less than a mile north of Highway 20 near Santiam Pass. The latest round of thunderstorms sparked the "Square Fire" three miles south-southeast of Three Fingered Jack on the border of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. The fire was named for its origin approximately 1/4-mile west of Square Lake. Forest officials evacuated the Round Lake Christian Camp Wednesday evening and closed Round Lake itself to all dispersed camping. Square, Booth and Long Lakes were also cleared of... Full story
While most of Central Oregon saw dozens of lightning-spawned fires in the last week, Sisters Ranger District firefighters counted their blessings. According to Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer with the Sisters Ranger District, only 12 fires burned on the district since Monday, July 27, all caused by "hot strikes." And nearly all of these blazes were less than 1/10th of an acre in size. "They were almost all 'spot' size, of 1/10th acre or less," Rapp said. "These usually occur in a single tree with a small amount... Full story
