Ranger district cleans up Sisters

Sisters Ranger District personnel and others conducted a major cleanup of five local dumpsites on July 13, their way of observing last spring’s Earth Day, according to Ryan Peterson, field ranger with the local Forest Service district.

Earth Day is recognized around the world as a time to celebrate gains made and to create new visions to accelerate environmental progress and a time to protect the planet.

“Officially, national Earth Day was observed on April 22,” Peterson explained. “However, in Central Oregon that time of year can be tough getting outdoors and there are not a lot of people available to help.”

More than 50 people, including both permanent and seasonal district employees, together with an Oregon Youth Conservation Corps crew and a Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council crew, spent the day collecting debris and garbage left by thoughtless forest visitors.

“We did major cleanup of five gravel pit areas,” Peterson said. “These included the Zimmerman gravel pit west of Sisters off Highway 20, the Crossroads area gravel pit off Highway 242, and the gravel pit off road 1514 west of the Three Creeks Road.”

In addition, crews cleaned up the former fee pull-off site on road 12 just north of Highway 20 and an old cabin site on Bureau of Land Management lands on Sisemore Road, he said.

“We also did a walk-though here at the ranger station and cleaned up our own backyard,” Peterson added.

The cleanup filled one- and-a-half 30-foot dumpsters, and created a huge pile of old building materials from an abandoned cabin, and a makeshift outhouse. The old cabin on Sisemore Road had been constructed under a Forest Service permit, but the land was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management, Peterson explained. The BLM later decided that the cabin was not a valid use of the land and directed its removal. The cabin’s owner tore down the structure, but left much of the building materials for others to remove.

Crews were hoping to remove several abandoned vehicles at the Crossroads gravel pit, but there wasn’t time to go through the review process required by Oregon law and Forest Service regulations to accomplish this. Efforts must be made to identify the vehicle’s owner and then see if the owner will pay for its removal. That effort will continue, Peterson added. “On the average, I remove about four abandoned vehicles a year,” Peterson said.

Dumping on federal lands is a Class B misdemeanor and can result in a six-month jail sentence and/or a $5,000 fine.

“We usually collect a $250 fine for a first-time offense,” Peterson said.

As a field ranger, Peterson works in recreation and public contacts primarily in the Sisters Ranger District, but he does have assignments elsewhere on the Deschutes National Forest. With continuing reductions in budget, he sees his job becoming more challenging every year. “When I came here three years ago, there were four field rangers, now I am the only one,” he explained. “At the same time, there are more and more visitors using the forest with little management.”