Trust director to address Metolius group

Friends of the Metolius will hold its annual public meeting on Saturday, May 25, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Camp Sherman Community Hall.

Brad Chalfant will speak about the Deschutes Land Trust's option to purchase 1,320 acres of Metolius Basin land from Weyerhaeuser. He will outline the Trust's fund-raising efforts for purchase and the process for management of the land.

Friends of the Metolius members will review the local management demonstration project just completed in partnership with the Forest Service.

Small parcels of land were cut, burned, or thinned using a variety of mechanized and hand treatment in the heart of Camp Sherman.

A short tour through the plots recently cut will be held at noon on Saturday. The project provides the public a look at options that may be used in the greater Metolius project now being planned by the Forest Service.

Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony will talk about that Metolius project and about his agency's progress toward completion of an Environmental Impact Study to conduct extensive thinning over the Metolius Basin landscape starting in 2003.

The purpose of the action will be to increase forest health and reduce the risks of catastrophic fire.

The project area is about 15,000 acres although not all acres will be treated.

The public is invited to attend the meeting.