Voters to decide on annexation of ‘island’

Last updated Jun 14, 2005 12:0pm0

It has been a year and a half in the making and now the Greater Sisters Country Community Wildfire Protection Plan is complete. The public is invited to a signing ceremony and celebration next week, according to Eileen Stein, city manager for the City of Sisters.

“We are inviting everyone in the greater Sisters area to attend the signing ceremony at the Sisters Village Green Park on Tuesday, June 21, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.,” Stein said.

“All of the participating agencies will be represented in this celebration of a major accomplishment for our community.”

The community fire plan is a coordinated effort to protect Sisters, surrounding subdivisions, and other major resources from damage by wildfire. The plan was funded by the National Fire Plan following disastrous local wildfires of 2002 and 2003 that threatened homes and caused several evacuations of residents.

Specific objectives of the plan are to protect human life and property, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, and to increase public understanding of living in the fire-prone Sisters area. Other objectives are to instill a sense of personal responsibility to prevent wildfires, increase the ability to prepare and respond to wildfires, and improve the landscape to withstand wildfire.

The plan includes recommended actions for forest fuels reduction, building construction standards, and public education.

A draft of the plan was prepared for public comment and review last month.

“There were few changes suggested in that draft to create the final plan,” said Tay Robertson, fire chief for the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District (RFPD).

Besides the signing program, fire-fighting apparatus will be on display from the agencies, Robertson added

“We will also have a short fuels reduction demonstration following the signing ceremony,” Chief Robertson said.

Refreshments will be served.

Besides the City of Sisters and the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District, other agencies participating are the Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District, the Black Butte Ranch Fire District, Deschutes County, Oregon Department of Forestry, USDA Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. Coordinator for the project was Marcus Kauffman of the Watershed Research and Training Center at the University of Oregon.

City applies for fire protection grant

As a first step to responding to recommendations in the Greater Sisters Country Community Wildfire Protection Plan (see related story this page), the city has applied for a National Fire Plan grant to treat up to 240 acres of city-owned property and possibly help some private owners with the cost of fuels reduction.

“We have set several priorities to treat city-owned lands, starting with portions of our wastewater treatment property south of town,” said Sisters City Manager Eileen Stein.

“After that, we may treat ten acres of city property south of the Patterson Llama Ranch and some of the lands between the Sisters High School and Tollgate.”

After this work, the city may look for opportunities to assist private landowners within the city with the cost of fuels reduction, particularly along the southern and western edges of the city, she added.

“With the wastewater treatment area, the city is in the land management business and we need to protect our investment,” Stein said.

“The wildfire protection plan does stress that the city is a community at risk from wildfire and we need to take action now,” she said.