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Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Lost hiker found safe
Public to weigh in on forest project
A man who got lost while
taking a short hike near Three
Creek Lake was found cold
but safe last week.
According to the
Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Office, search and rescue
personnel were dispatched at
about 5:20 p.m. on Thursday,
January 7, on a report of a lost
person who had been hiking
in the area of the Metolius-
Windigo Trail about 1.5 miles
north of Three Creek Lake.
Brandalyn Stevens
reported that her son, William
Neason, age 23, of Bend, had
decided to go for a hike while
he was waiting for Stevens
and Stephen Rhinehart to
arrive with snowmobiles,
after which they were going
to ride together. Neason
parked his vehicle at the
Upper Three Creek Sno-Park
at about noon and walked up
toward Three Creek Lake.
The plan was to meet at the
junction of Road 370 and
Road 16, Three Creek Road.
When Stevens and
Rhienhart arrived about two
hours later, they learned
Neason was lost, but believed
he was in the area of Snow
Creek, west of Road 16.
Stevens and Rhienhart drove
back down to the Upper
Three Creek Sno-Park where
they waited for law enforce-
ment arrival. A Forest Service
officer responded to the snow
park and provided updates
that Stevens would periodi-
cally receive from Neason via
text messages.
Neason reported that he
had been walking in three-
foot-deep snow, was wear-
ing tennis shoes, blue jeans
overlaid with Carhartt pants,
a sweat shirt and a Carhartt
jacket. Neason had means of
starting a fire.
Law enforcement attempts
to call and/or text Neason
were not successful. Neason
The Sisters Ranger
District is looking for the
Sisters community to weigh
in on the Melvin Butte
Vegetation Management
Project draft environmental
assessment (EA).
“Your comments will
help us craft our final deci-
sion regarding the project,”
wrote Sisters District Ranger
Kristie Miller.
The Sisters Ranger
District proposes “to main-
tain and restore forest resil-
iency and forest health in
conifer stands to provide
habitat for interior forest spe-
cies, maintain and enhance
large old trees and habitats,
and reduce the hazard of
large-scale wildfires in the
Wildland Urban Interface
(WUI).”
The project area is about
5,375 acres about nine miles
south of the city of Sisters.
The draft EA describes
three alternatives, includ-
ing the “No-Action” alter-
native. The proposed action
(Alternative 2) would thin
“understory shade-tolerant
conifers such as white fir;
restoring ponderosa pine
where it was historically
present through the creation
of small group openings and
planting these openings to
pine; treating areas infected
with dwarf mistletoe while
maintaining large-diameter
trees; and reintroducing fire
through underburning in the
project area. Alternative 2
would harvest about 6.6-mil-
lion board feet of timber.
Alternative 2 would construct
was able to call 911 at about
5:46 p.m. Neason was dressed
for an overnight stay, but was
now wet. Neason also advised
he had food and water.
Dispatch was able to obtain
an accurate ping of Neason’s
location, which put him near
the Metolius-Windigo Trail
about 1.3 miles northwest of
Three Creek Road.
Neason called 911 again
at 7:15 p.m. to report that
he had stopped walking, had
been able to build a fire —
and was cold. Based on the
ping of the phone this time,
the coordinates showed that
Neason had walked about 200
yards downhill in a northeast
direction.
Three DCSOSAR snow-
mobiles, one towing an
ambusled, and five SAR
members were deployed to
the Upper Three Creek Sno-
Park parking lot arriving
at about 8 p.m. From there
snowmobiles were needed to
travel about 3.5 miles to the
intersection of the Metolius-
Windigo Trail. Snowmobiles
went off-trail to the west
toward the GPS coordinates
through narrow stands of
trees and blowdown.
At about 9:30 p.m.,
Neason called 911 again to
state he had been able to start
a fire, which had since began
to die, but the embers were
helping his feet from getting
too cold. The ping on the
phone confirmed Neason had
not moved since his prior 911
call.
SAR personnel located
Neason at about 10:20 p.m.
He was provided warm flu-
ids and was wrapped in a
couple sleeping bags and
transported back down to the
Upper Three Creek Sno-Park
in the ambusled. Neason was
released to the care of Stevens
and Rhienhart.
about 0.8 miles of temporary
roads. About 4,469 acres
would be treated.
“Alternative 3 responds to
key issues raised during pub-
lic scoping,” Miller wrote.
Similar to the proposed
action, Alternative 3 would
maintain overstory ponder-
osa pine by thinning from
below and reintroducing fire
through underburning in the
project area.
“No group openings
would be created; these areas
would be thinned from below
favoring any ponderosa pine
that is present,” Miller wrote.
Under Alternative 3, no
temporary roads would be
constructed. Alternative 3
would harvest about 6.3-mil-
lion board feet of timber on
about 4,405 acres.
The draft EA will have
a 30-day public comment
period, which is now under-
way. Comments should
be within the scope of the
proposed action, have a
direct relationship to the
proposed action, and must
include supporting reasons
for the responsible official
to consider (36 CFR 218.2).
Comments will be reviewed
and addressed in a Response
to Comments section of a
draft decision.
There are three ways to
obtain a copy of the draft
EA: Request a hard copy
— one will be mailed to
you or you can come by
the district office to pick up
your copy; request a copy
of the draft EA on a com-
pact disk (CD); or download
the draft EA at: http://data.
ecosystem-management.org/
nepaweb/nepa_project_exp.
php?project=44107.
Submit your comments
to Melvin Butte Vegetation
Management Project, District
Ranger, Kristie Miller, P.O.
Box 249, Sisters, Oregon
97759; FAX 541-549-7746.
Email comments should be
sent to comments-pacific-
northwest-deschutes-sis-
ters@fs.fed.us. Those sub-
mitting electronic comments
must do so only to the email
listed above, must put the
project name in the subject
line, and must either submit
comments as part of the email
message or as an attachment
in only one of the follow-
ing three formats: Microsoft
Word, rich text format (rtf),
or PDF. Include your mailing
address if you are submitting
comments by email.
For more information
about the project or a copy
of the EA, contact Michael
Keown, Environmental
Coordinator, Sisters Ranger
District, P.O. Box 249,
Sisters, Oregon, 97759 or
call 541-549-7735.
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