News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A heavy pall of smoke descended on Sisters Wednesday night, March 9, after the Sisters Ranger District burned 137 acres near Cold Springs Campground west of town.
The smoke was so thick on Thursday morning that pilot cars had to guide traffic in both directions along Highway 20 between Sisters and Tollgate.
Kirk Metzger, fire manager with the Sisters Ranger District, said the burn was ignited in anticipation of a front moving in with breezes stiff enough to scour the air clean.
“We were hoping we’d get more dispersal yesterday,” Metzger told The Nugget on Thursday morning. “We didn’t get the wind we were expecting.”
Instead, the humidity rose with the cooling air and the smoke clung to the moist air and settled in a thick blanket over much of the Sisters area. The smoke tended to follow the Trout Creek drainage that runs along the eastern edge of Tollgate.
“People don’t typically notice it, but we’ve got Trout Creek running pretty much right through Sisters,” Metzger said.
The Cold Springs burn was part of the Sisters Ranger District’s spring burning program designed to reduce fuels that could feed a major forest fire. There are units scheduled for burning up and down Highway 20. Metzger said the Forest Service tries to get the word out in advance, but decisions to touch off a controlled burn are often made on short notice when weather conditions are favorable.
According to Metzger, more than 2,300 acres are up for burning, but realistically he expects only about 500 acres or so to be treated this spring.
Fire managers are considering igniting more burns soon.
Two areas are being considered. One area is 15 miles north of Sisters in the Bear Garden and Big Bear Timber Sales where crews will be burning logging slash. A second area is two miles south of Sisters along Forest Road 16 (Three Creek Roads).
Is burning to reduce fuels worth dealing with smoke? Tell us what you think. E-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.nuggetnews.com.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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