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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2015)
2 Wednesday, June 17, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Behind the preservation of Whychus Canyon By Janet Zuelke Guest Columnist Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: Over 40 years ago, four young couples in Corvallis got together with the idea of hav- ing a cabin at Black Butte Ranch. We pooled our money, chose a lot, and had a Ridge Cabin built. The partnership exists to this day. The Ranch is part of our lives, of our history, and that of the succeeding generations as well. We remember when the Ranch helped Sisters merchants build store fronts to resemble an old Western town, when the Sisters schools went no farther than the eighth grade, when the number of restaurants in the area was limited. Over the years, we watched as Sisters blos- somed into a tourist town, albeit helped by its location near the Ranch, but now able to stand on its own. It was with pride that we saw the Ranch help Sisters schools, not just with its tax base, but also by providing the Sisters tennis, swim, and golf teams a place to practice and train. We also appreciate the participation of the wider community when they eat at the BBR restaurants and play on the golf courses. However, as much as we love and appreciate our relationship with the people in Sisters, we did not make our Black Butte Ranch decision over 40 years ago to include inviting anyone with a bike or the ability to walk to the Ranch. Not to swim in the pools that we’ve maintained for all these years, to walk on the bike paths that we’ve paid for, or play on the tennis courts that we’ve spent money on. The friendship, up to this date, has been mutually beneficial. But inviting non-paying non-invited people into our homes is not part of that. As for traffic, does anyone seriously think that residents of the Ranch are going to bike to Sisters for their weekly groceries? If Sisters wants a bike path so much, why not on the other side of the road? Same view, but not a route that leads directly into private property? Why not parallel the bike path with other area roads? Like Indian Ford? Three Creeks? Camp Sherman? I read in The Nugget that Alan Unger said that the trail option would actually take some pressure off heavily used recreational paths inside the Ranch. Unless I have something wrong, the Ranch’s paths are the Ranch’s busi- ness, not Unger’s. He thinks that by putting the Ranch’s residents on the proposed path and the See LeTTeRS on page 21 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny 76/47 75/42 73/40 80/45 83/48 80/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Lisa Buckley Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $40; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2014 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. I read with interest the article about the Deschutes Land Trust acquiring 58 acres along Whychus Creek. As the board chair of Wolftree I am grateful to DLT for protecting this vital section of the Whychus. However, what the article failed to mention was that the time, talent and treasure that went in to preserve this special place began long before the DLT was even interested. Forrest Babcock and I lived adjacent to this prop- erty for 12 years. In 2006 when the real estate boom was at its most absurd, we discovered that it was being considered for a five-to- seven-house development. It was important for us to do what we could to stop that. We started with the Deschutes Land Trust. They suggested this property was too small to bother with so we contacted Wolftree, a local education, conserva- tion, and restoration orga- nization. Dale Waddell met us at the canyon rim, and that first walk was all he needed. We began a series of Sunday-morning “walk- abouts” where we hiked small groups of people into the canyon from our home. Very little needed to be said … we let the place speak for itself. Everyone who came recognized the significance of this property and donated time or money to help pro- tect it. At a pizza parlor in Bend the owners and Wolftree agreed on a price. They agreed to let us fundraise the money needed to purchase it, effectively taking it off the market for the next 120 days. We began a capital campaign and increased our “walkabouts.” This effort culminated in a fundraiser at Aspen Lakes Golf Course. Forrest and I gave our entire charitable giving budget for that year along with some friendly, arm twisting, extended-family money. Realizing we needed BIG money, Dale invited an OWEB representative to join him in a private walk to the canyon. I met him later at Depot Café where a surprised Dale shared that the gentleman had “gone spiritual” down there. He wrote a check out of his own pocket and told Dale if he got the proposal to OWEB before the deadline he would personally shepherd it through. The process to get a grant from OWEB for land acqui- sition is difficult, expensive, and we only had 4 months to get it done! It requires a “yel- low book appraisal” of the property. The Wolftree staff worked for weeks to map and grid the entire property; do fish counts, bird counts, plant ID and species reports. Karen Waddell, Forrest and I spent hours on the prop- erty assisting this effort. It paid off, as in October of that year OWEB funded our grant request at 100 percent! Even though this did not pay the owners all that was owed, the property was now a conservation easement and could never go back into pri- vate hands. The Whychus Creek Discovery Outpost (WCDO) was born! From 2009-2013 the WCDO welcomed students every week for 6-10 weeks in the fall and again in the spring. We created a parking area for school busses, and one group built a trail for access. Watching students counting and then planting fish with the ODFW, track- ing wildlife, recording plant species, doing restoration work and making memories through learning made us realize that all of our time, sacrifice and money had been worth it. When DLT began The Campaign for Whychus Creek it now made sense to acquire this property as part of that vision. Wolftree stepped aside and DLT nego- tiated with the original prop- erty owners and a deal was done. This was a happy end- ing to a years-long process. This story is told to bring to light all the years of hard work and sacrifice that had to happen for DLT’s latest acquisition to become reality. Wolftree risked everything on this, and each of us who supported Wolftree in this endeavor had a hand in pro- tecting this incredible place. Congratulations to us all! Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.