Forest Service to replace lookout cabin - eventually

The Forest Service wants to replace the living quarters used by the lookout atop Black Butte - and it's getting an early start on the process.

Due to the bureaucratic hoops the Forest Service is forced to jump through, it will probably be 2011 before the NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) process is completed and all public comments are reviewed and work will get underway.

Just so you know, all construction activities will follow Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) class for Semi-primitive Non-motorized and Visual Quality Objective Retention.

Due to its visibility, attractiveness as a recreation area and prime location for a fire lookout, for over a century people have wandered all over the summit of the 6,436-foot Pleistocene volcano, making it one of the most popular hikes on the Dechutes National Forest. Black Butte also has a long history of use by Native Americans, who knew it as "Tuuururu" in early times.

Since the early 1900s, Black Butte has been a primary fire lookout on the Deschutes National Forest. The present tower was erected in 1995, and was preceded by three other generations of lookouts. While the new tower is holding up and functioning well, the old live-in structure is just about shot and must be replaced.

The announcement from the Sisters District states, "Over time the existing quarter's cabin for lookout personnel has become severely deteriorated..." For those who have recently been forced to live in it all fire season, that's probably an understatement - carpenter ants have about demolished it.

The project plans to accomplish the following: Demolish and restore the original cabin and outhouse, using prefabricated material; consolidate solar panels, propane tank, firewood storage area, and other utilities at a single location, therefore reducing administrative footprint; replace existing network of social trails with a single trail system that protects resource values and improves recreation experience.

A helicopter will be used to transport material to the site.

If you have any input you would like to share with the Forest Service on this project, send your comments to: Black Butte Quarters Replacement Project, Michael Keown, Project Manager, P.O. Box 249, Sisters, OR 97759; or e-mail: [email protected] You may also hand-deliver written and/or make oral comments to the Sisters Ranger District Office.