'What can I do?'

The smoke from the Milli Fire has cleared away, and the scars from the blaze are bandaged with a light covering of snow.

The impacts, however, linger on. Sisters Country residents report ongoing upper respiratory problems linked to living in weeks of unhealthy air conditions, and businesses are still feeling the economic body blow of losing the last third of the summer season. The environmental damage will linger through our lifetimes.

Something needs to change. Sisters can't afford to endure one terrible fire season after another. Changing forest policy - how we manage our forests, how we fight fires - is a big chore. And therein lies an opportunity.

In recent weeks, I've heard many in the community - who are frustrated to the point of despair by the course of the American Republic - ask one question: "What can I do?" They suspect - rightly - that their Facebook posts and emails to their congressmen are tiny, inconsequential noises in the roaring tempest of the hyper-partisan, money-fueled noise machine of national politics, unheard or ignored.

Yet they can't countenance simply giving up and retreating into isolated silence.

Forest restoration is an issue of prime importance to the people of our community and region. It's critical to our economic, physical and spiritual health. Virtually everybody in Sisters Country - regardless of ideology - loves the Sisters landscape. It's a primary reason why we're all here.

Working together to find practical solutions to on-the-ground problems can cut across partisan lines and build bridges between people who have become alienated from each other by a toxic national discourse that creates division for sport and profit.

The Deschutes Forest Collaborative Project (http://deschutescollaborativeforest.org) offers one way of connecting with a practical movement toward forest restoration - and an opportunity to bridges in the community.

Those who want to do something to better their world outside of the ugly hurly-burly of "politics" might find working for the land they call home a worthy trail to walk down.

Jim Cornelius

Editor