News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Dave Moyer has seen the pendulum of forest management swing hard over the four decades since he started working on the Sisters Ranger District.
Now retiring after more than 41 years on the job in Sisters Country, Moyer has seen forest management go from "getting the cut out" to near shutdown, and now has swung back toward a middle ground of management for forest health.
Moyer started working for the Forest Service doing summer temp work in the Ochocos in 1969. After graduating from the forestry program at Central Oregon Community College in 1970, he went to work on the Sisters Ranger District.
"Back in the '70s we were in the era of cutting timber," he recalled.
Moyer gravitated into forestry after initially entering college with an engineering career on his mind. Engineering wasn't for him, and after he did basic training for the U.S. Army Reserves, a friend encouraged him to take forestry classes. That proved more congenial, and his career was born.
His was an unusual career, in that he served entirely on one district. He started out as a timber cruiser, marking trees for cutting in timber sales. In 1978, a job opened up in the sylviculture aspect of forestry - replanting and restoration - and he took it on. He had offers to go to other districts, but he declined.
"The family was established here and in school, so I didn't go. I stayed here," he said.
In the 1980s, rising environmental concerns about over-harvesting and habitat degradation led to near-gridlock on the forest. Litigation and lack of trust between environmentalists, the timber industry and the Forest Service nearly shut down activity on the forest.
"It was a struggle to get things to really work," he said.
Ever so slowly, in the 1990s, things began to ease up and projects got underway - now with an emphasis on forest health.
Moyer was at the heart of the action, managing contracts.
"The last 16 years or better, I've done what they call timber stand improvement," he said.
He was involved in the successful implementation of the Highway 20 project, which thinned the forest along the highway into Sisters. It was a showcase for what a healthy forest could look like, and it began a thaw in relations between the district and the environmental community.
Moyer managed stewardship contracts in innovative projects in the Metolius Basin and the Glaze Meadow area near Black Butte Ranch. Those projects included using slash for biomass fuel, an innovation Moyer considers particularly rewarding.
Also in the 1990s, Moyer served as mayor of the City of Sisters. He and his wife Donna have volunteered for Outlaws basketball games and in 2010 were named Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteers of the Year for their contributions to the Sisters community.
Moyer and his colleagues will celebrate his long career with a retirement gathering at Aspen Lakes' Brand 33 Restaurant on Saturday, January 28. A social hour at 5 p.m. kicks off festivities, followed by a buffet dinner at 6 p.m. ($15), capped with a presentation and story sharing at 7 p.m. Those who wish to attend are asked to RSVP by January 20 to Teri Cairns at [email protected]
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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