Wednesday, January 28, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Shelter needs permanent facility
Three Rivers Humane
Society (TRHS), a small ani-
mal shelter in rural Jefferson
County, has launched an
ambitious capital campaign
aimed at funding construc-
tion of a permanent shelter
facility. The shelter has set a
$400,000 target for the cam-
paign, dubbed “Raise the
Woof!”
Though located just out-
side of Madras on Southeast
McTaggart Road, TRHS is
significantly engaged with
the Sisters community. Sisters
residents volunteer there, and
several animals have been
adopted locally out of the
shelter.
The Raise the Woof! cam-
paign will fund construction
of a permanent, heated and
cooled, 6,000-square-foot
shelter building on the Three
Rivers Humane Society site.
Since obtaining the con-
tract to operate Jefferson
County Kennels, TRHS has
overseen the care of 718 ani-
mals and found homes for
them all over the Northwest
and Canada.
Despite the shelter’s suc-
cess, and the ongoing efforts
of countless volunteers, the
shelter’s outdoor kennels
remain woefully inadequate
to protect its dogs from the
cold Central Oregon winters.
In this winter season, Madras
has seen temperatures drop to
-23 degrees on several occa-
sions. Last summer, the high
temperatures were often 100
degrees or higher.
On especially cold days,
the shelter has been forced to
photo pRoviDeD
three rivers Humane Society is raising funds to improve its shelter
facilities near madras.
seek out volunteers to tempo-
rarily “foster” dogs that oth-
erwise would have remained
in outdoor kennels, protected
only by small dog houses
with heated kennel mats.
“With only 10 indoor
kennels in our current facil-
ity, the majority of our dogs
are housed in outdoor ken-
nels,” said TRHS Executive
Director Steve Drynan, who
runs the shelter along with his
wife, Jerilee. “We need to put
a permanent roof over these
dogs’ heads so they never
have to worry about being
terribly cold in the winter or
over-heated in the summer
again. We know this won’t
happen overnight but we
are committed to this proj-
ect being accomplished in a
reasonable amount of time.
We will construct a build-
ing we can afford to operate
and maintain, while provid-
ing the quality care our dogs
deserve.”
TRHS is a 501(c)(3) non-
profit organization, and all
donations are tax-deductible.
Monetary donations can be
earmarked for the build-
ing campaign and made
through their website, mail,
or at Three Rivers Humane
Society. Donations of labor
and/or building materials are
appreciated as well.
For more information,
visit www.threerivershs.org
or call 541-475-6889.
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11
Citizens asked to weigh
in on natural hazards
Folks in Sisters Country
are being asked to help iden-
tify the major natural hazards
facing the community.
Deschutes County, in
partnership with the cities
of Bend, La Pine, Redmond
and Sisters, is currently
engaged in the Natural
Hazards Mitigation Plan
(NHMP) update. This plan
update is being supported
by the Oregon Partnership
for Disaster Resilience
(OPDR) at the University of
Oregon. The existing plan
was updated in 2010 and is
due for update in May of this
year. This update will also
include city-specific adden-
dums for each of the cities
in Deschutes County, includ-
ing Sisters, which is new for
2015.
The NHMP is a docu-
ment submitted to and
approved by Oregon
Emergency Management
and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. This
document helps commu-
nities identify risks and
associated mitigation strate-
gies. An approved NHMP is
required to receive federal
pre-disaster mitigation funds
to address known natural
hazards in the community.
Ultimately, the document
aids communities in achiev-
ing higher levels of disaster
resilience.
An important compo-
nent of this process is pub-
lic engagement regarding
risk and community resil-
ience. The NHMP Steering
Committee in collaboration
with OPDR has developed a
survey. The county asks that
citizens and property owners
take a few minutes to com-
plete the survey, which will
assist planners in develop-
ing mitigation strategies and
gauge community knowl-
edge of risks in Deschutes
County.
The survey can be found
at www.sheriff.deschutes.
org (Quick Links); www.
deschutes.org (Media
R e l e a s e s ) ; h t t p : / / w w w.
ci.bend.or.us (Latest News).