Warding off the disease of
‘constant partial attention’ page 17
A growing, inclusive community
for Sisters seniors page 20
Volleyball team knocks
off league foes page 21
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 41
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Surveying fire damage along Hwy. 242
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Stepping out of the Forest
Service vehicle onto Highway
242, and standing surrounded
by blackened ponderosa and
lodge-pole pines and once-
green Douglas fir trees, the
lack of a burned smell was
surprising. The air, once filled
with acrid, dense smoke, was
clear and clean and the sky
was blue.
The surroundings were
silent, except for the sound of
a chainsaw whining through
the thick trunk of a tree identi-
fied as a hazard, and the resul-
tant thud as the tree fell to
the ground on the steep slope
above the highway. No birds
chirping, no squirrels chat-
tering, no bicyclists or hikers
enjoying the scenic byway
that is the old McKenzie Pass
highway over the Cascade
Range to the Willamette
Valley.
The Forest Service and
the Oregon Department of
Transportation led a media
tour of the still-closed
Highway 242 last week.
Correspondent
Back in 1966, when
Multnomah County began
a five-day Outdoor School
program for all sixth-graders
in their system, Betty Gray
of Portland — wife of John
Gray who got Sunriver and
several other Oregon-based
projects going — thought her
life-long dream of kids learn-
ing in the forest had at last
come true.
The Gray Family
Foundation, whose slo-
gan is, “Outdoor School
For Everyone,” through
the efforts and assistance
of the Oregon Community
Inside...
Enrollment
down in
Sisters
schools
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
and fox are returning to their
home territory for the coming
winter.
The natural fire cycle
that clears out dead and dis-
eased trees and removes thick
Sisters schools continue to
struggle with enrollment num-
bers — the most critical ele-
ment affecting school funding.
As of October 2, enroll-
ment across Sisters’ three
schools stood at 1,069 stu-
dents. That’s down 13.5 stu-
dents from the end of the last
school year, and is 12 students
below district projections.
The enrollment picture is usu-
ally clearer in October, as the
school year settles in.
Since schools are funded
on a weighted calculation
based on enrollment numbers,
fewer students means less
money in the coffers. The state
currently provides $7,548 per
See FIRE DAMAGE on page 22
See ENROLLMENT on page 29
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
Many trees along Highway 242 had to be cut down due to safety concerns.
James Osborne, fire
management officer for the
Cascade Division, gave assur-
ances that the wildlife left the
area the minute they sensed
the fire starting and have now
begun to return. The birds
and squirrels have started
Outdoor School
is on in Oregon
By Jim Anderson
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Foundation, has kept Betty’s
dream alive.
Last November, voters
approved Ballot Measure
99, designating funding for
Outdoor School program-
ming for school districts and
Education Service Districts
(ESDs) to serve fifth- or
sixth-grade students in
Oregon. The 2015 legislature
had already charged OSU
Extension with administering
the statewide program when
funding became available. In
July of 2017 the legislature
approved $24 million for the
program’s first two years,
and right at the top of the
See OUTDOOR on page 12
to gather the seeds from the
lodgepole pinecones that
open when exposed to the
fire’s heat. Deer and elk have
been spotted in the burn scars,
returning to roll in the ash left
by the fire, to rid themselves
of bothersome ticks. Coyote
Walden assesses fire’s local impact
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Oregon Congressman
Greg Walden (R-Hood River)
was in Sisters on Sunday
afternoon to tour the Milli
Fire with Forest Service per-
sonnel and to meet with rep-
resentatives of Sisters busi-
nesses and the City of Sisters
to discuss the economic
impact of the fire on the busi-
ness community.
The meeting was arranged
by former interim City
Manager Rick Allen at the
request of Walden’s office.
Walden reported that
this has been a $2 billion
fire year, with 49,000 fires
nationally. As part of the bill
for funding hurricane relief,
$575.6 million was included
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Rep. Greg Walden answers questions from Peggy Frye, manager of The
Jewel in downtown Sisters, during his visit to Sisters last Sunday.
for fire suppression, a win for
the West.
John Allen, forest supervi-
sor for the Deschutes National
Forest, told Walden that in the
past three weeks, two million
board feet of hazard trees
have been removed from the
Milli Fire site along Highway
242. There are seven or eight
See WALDEN on page 23
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ...................... 6-7 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Senior Commentary .........20 Classifieds ..................26-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Focus on Health .......... 13-20 Crossword ....................... 25 Real Estate .................28-32