30
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
ILLEgAL TRAILS:
Move will protect
vital deer habitat
Continued from page 3
animals and tracking where
they went to determine such
things as habitat preferences,
migration routes and causes
of mortality. One of her find-
ings was an unequivocal cor-
relation between human activ-
ity — especially roads — and
disturbing deer, causing them
to expend energy they need to
survive the winter.
“It’s not just one activity,”
said Gregory. “It’s OHVs,
mountain bikes, and hikers
that all add up. When you
have a lot of people out there
recreating, it’s going to affect
the critters.”
Illegal trails are often
poorly constructed, causing
environmental damage; and
may be unsafe or conflict with
hunters, birders and other for-
est users, according to District
recreation team leader Amy
Iracki.
The illegal trail system’s
effect on cultural resources
is also a concern, particu-
larly from erosion that may
wash away valuable artifacts.
Because deer congregate in
the area during the winter,
prehistoric people and later
Native Americans came here
to hunt them, leaving behind
projectile points and remains
of “processing stations”
where they cleaned their
game.
“There are sections of
the trail where OHV use
has impacted these cul-
tural resources,” said Matt
Mawhirter, Sisters Ranger
District archaeologist.
Officer Fred Perl, the
District’s law-enforcement
officer, is seeing signs of
increasing use of the trails by
mountain bikers.
“The trails are becoming
more visible, and what that
means to me is that they are
becoming more popular and
more people are using them,”
said Perl.
Since there are residences
in Stevens Canyon there have
also been occasional com-
plaints of trespassing from
the trails onto private prop-
erty adjacent to the National
Forest, and a large segment of
the trail was actually built on
privately owned forestlands.
Forest Service staff have
placed signs at trail entry
points informing trail users
that the system was illegally
built and is being closed.
Students from the Sisters
High School Interdisciplinary
Environmental Expedition
Class helped identify trail
access points and marked
their locations with GPS coor-
dinates. The Forest Service
will obliterate these trail entry
points with berms, logs and
boulders. Work will be com-
pleted by September.
The Stevens Canyon trail
Serving Sisters Since 1976
system decommissioning
is part of a larger project,
called the Garrison Project, to
improve wildlife habitat in the
National Forest portion of the
winter range that will include
forest thinning and other veg-
etation management work.
When you have a lot
of people out there
recreating, it’s going to
affect the critters.
— Sara gregory
The Forest Service is sup-
portive of mountain bike trails
on the Sisters Ranger District,
but wants future trail systems
to be sustainable in that they
take into consideration other
forest values and minimize
their impacts on important
resources like wildlife and
archeological sites.
“I think that can work,”
said Gregg. “We just need to
identify the impacts, and then
we can bring it all together.”
For more information
contact District Wildlife
Biologist Monty Gregg at
the Sisters Ranger District,
541-549-7724.
SISTERS
GARAGE DOORS
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440 N. Pine St. • 541-549-8141 • www.hoyts.net
SISTERS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Thrift Store
ReStore
Welcome,
Quilters!
ReStore will be
closed July 10th &
11th for cleaning
and interior
remodeling...
JEWELRY IS
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541-549-1740
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541-549-1621
141 W. Main Ave., Sisters
254 W. Adams Ave., Sisters
Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday, 12-4 p.m.
Donations accepted
Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Sundays
Donations accepted
Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Quilt Show will offer
feature exhibits
Featured
Quilter,
Inspirational Instructor and
Machine Quilter Showcase
special exhibits are scheduled
on Quilt Show Day.
Teri Wood, featured quil-
ter, is honored for her grow-
ing body of work and artistry.
A resident of Sisters, Wood
has designed and created the
2016 Raffle Quilt, “A Walk
in the Pines.” The exhibit of
her quilts will be on display
on the lawn of Ponderosa
Properties, located at the cor-
ner of West Hood Avenue and
South Ash Street.
Rob Appell, Inspired
Instructor, is an instructor,
author and quilt designer
for Michael Miller Fabrics.
Always a favorite instruc-
tor at Quilter’s Affair, he has
taught classes in Sisters and
volunteered for the Sisters
Outdoor Quilt Show for the
past six years. He is the host
of weekly video tutorials
you can see at his YouTube
site, “Man Sewing with Rob
Appell.” Rob will be display-
ing the unique quilt “And
the Flag was Still There,” a
quilt created for benefit auc-
tion to support the Oregon
regional office of Operation
Homefront, which supports
service members’ families.
Sandy Lachowski is fea-
tured in the Machine Quilter
Showcase 2016. Lachowski
and her business, Best in
Show Quilts, are known
regionally for the fine art
and detailed craft she puts
into finishing quilting for her
clients. The exhibit of her
work will be on display at the
Three Creeks Building at the
corner of West Hood Avenue
and South Ash Street.
Kathy Doughty returns
from Australia and her shop
there, Material Obsession,
to teach at Quilter’s Affair,
and as Featured Lecturer pre-
sented by Freespirit Fabrics.
Doughty’s quilts will be
exhibited among the pines on
the FivePine campus Sunday,
July 10, from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Her walking tours and
lecture sold out four months
in advance. However, self-
guided tours are possible
between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
B L ACKS
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• Sisters Industrial Park 541-549-9280