Shootin’ ’em up
in Sisters page 8
Sisters rider takes on
100-mile race page 13
The Nugget
Vol. XXXIX No. 34
Tuya: A distinctive local
geological feature page 14
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Rescuers recover fish in Whychus Creek
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
A couple dozen volunteers
and agency staff donned wad-
ers and hoisted nets along
Whychus Creek Wednesday,
August 17, in a large-scale
fish recovery effort. The fish
rescue was part of a recently
launched stream restoration
project along the northern-
most mile of the Deschutes
Land Trust’s Whychus
Canyon Preserve.
The massive undertaking is
recreating historic relic chan-
nels of the creek, which was
channelized by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers nearly 50
years ago in an effort to con-
trol flooding on the creek.
Large earth-moving
equipment crawled growling
through the canyon, remov-
ing berms holding the stream
in its straight alignment and
removing soil in places to
promote the free movement
of water across the creek’s
historic floodplain.
The rescuers broke out into
several crews, each including
a couple of “shockers,” who
carried a wand and backpack
Planning commission
approves modification
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Hayden Homes won
approval of a modification to
their original approved 2005
master development plan
(MP 05-01) for Village at
Cold Springs from a divided
Sisters Planning Commission
on Thursday night.
They also submitted a new
tentative subdivision plan for
housing units with associated
development of rights-of-
way, open space, and recre-
ational amenities.
This project is a continua-
tion of the existing Village at
Cold Springs, and is located
Inside...
A large tank was also on
hand to hold fish for transfer
farther upstream.
See fISh on page 30
See fIreS on page 22
photo by Jay Mather
on both sides of Rail Way
and north of McKinney Butte
Road and Village Meadows.
Prior to the start of the pub-
lic hearing for Hayden, Ruth
Palmer, a resident of Village
at Cold Springs, challenged
the ability of Commissioner
Jack Nagel to provide unbi-
ased consideration of the
modification request before
the Planning Commission.
Palmer reported being
present in a public venue
in Sisters on June 27 and
hearing Nagel say, “I don’t
like Hayden Homes and I
wouldn’t approve anything
See hAydeN on page 29
transferred by bucket into the
newly established channels.
After the rescue, the water
was to be diverted out of the
old, straight channel.
Suspicious
fires in
Sisters
area
Six very small fires
broke out in Sisters Country
Wednesday evening, August
17.
According to Central
Oregon Interagency Dispatch,
five of the blazes were
reported just off Forest Road
16 (Three Creek Road) south
of Sisters, and another was
reported off Forest Road 11
northeast of Black Butte.
All were around a tenth of
an acre in size and manned by
fire crews overnight.
The blazes are under
investigation. There has been
no lightning in the area.
Oregon State Fire Marshal
Jim Walker is urging all resi-
dents to take the utmost care
and thorough caution to pre-
vent wildfires.
“A majority of this year’s
wildfires have been human
Crews from a variety of agencies and local volunteers moved fish into new channels on Whychus Creek.
unit that delivers a mild elec-
tric current into the water
which helps to “herd” the fish
into areas where they could
be caught up into nets, then
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Hikers rescued on South Sister
In a scenario that has
become almost routine this
summer, a pair of hikers got
stranded on South Sister and
had to be rescued.
According to the
Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Office, on Wednesday,
August 17, at about 4:30 p.m.,
Deschutes County Sheriffs
Office Search and Rescue
(DCSOSAR) was dispatched
to a report of two hikers who
had reached the summit of
South Sister, but were not
physically able to descend on
their own. A SAR deputy was
able to communicate with
the hikers by phone, who
were identified as Dominique
Tanton, 22, of Bend and
Caroline Chenoweth, 21, of
Fort Worth, Texas.
photo courtesy Dcso
South Sister, always catching hikers unprepared.
Tanton advised they had
run out of water about half-
way through their day hike
and were now at the summit
feeling physically ill from
the heat and altitude. Neither
were prepared for cold
weather and both reported
being exhausted and unable
to hike any further. Their
See hIkerS on page 22
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ............... 10 Sisters Naturalist ..............12 Bunkhouse Chronicle ........17 Classifieds .................. 25-27
Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Sisters Salutes ................ 16 Crossword ....................... 24 Real Estate .................29-32