The Nugget
Vol. XLII No. 15
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Sisters roundabout has new residents
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Three years ago it was
the sketchy, uncontrolled
intersection of Highway 20/
Barclay Drive/McKinney
Butte Road. On Monday,
April 8, after years of plan-
ning and construction of a
new roundabout, it became
the home of sculptor Danae
Bennett-Miller9s <Land of
Contrasts.=
Large bronze statues of an
elk and three antelope were
lowered in place by a boom
truck from Empire Stone.
Bennett-Miller, a resident
of Tumalo, was on hand, in
her yellow rain slicker to stay
dry in the morning drizzle, to
oversee the placement of the
statues. She had originally
brought cardboard copies
of the statues to determine
the proper location for each
art piece and, as the bronzes
were placed one by one, it
was obvious she had made
the perfect selection for each
statue.
Traffic was heavy Monday
morning around the inter-
section, with a number of
oversized loads and a high
volume of cars and trucks
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Cougars
on the rise
in Sisters
Country
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
into concrete pads with a few
attachments to adjacent rocks.
Many of the rocks used in
the installation are nature9s
works of art, with large
basalt pillars from eastern
Several local residents
have reported sightings of
cougar or cougar sign in
Sisters Country, from the out-
skirts of Tollgate to a trail cam
capture near a house in Camp
Sherman.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
<Living With Wildlife web-
page (https://www.dfw.state.
or.us) notes that, <Oregon
is home to more than 6,000
cougars, or mountain lions.
While cougar sightings and
encounters are rare, it is wise
to educate yourself about the
big cats.=
Cougars can be found any-
where in the state, but the
highest concentrations are in
the Blue Mountains and the
southern Cascades. Cougars
See ROUNDABOUT on page 21
See COUGARS on page 23
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Danae Bennett-Miller (yellow rain coat) supervised the installation of her art work titled “Land of Contrasts”
in the Barclay Drive roundabout on Monday.
circling the roundabout while
rocks and statues were being
offloaded into the center of
the roundabout.
Bennett-Miller9s pleasure
at seeing her installation take
shape was evident.
<In my 40 years of
sculpting, this is my favorite
project,= she said. <I9m so
glad to have this in Sisters.=
The artist estimated the
elk probably weighs around
1,300 pounds, maybe more.
The statues are all anchored
in place with large bolts sunk
Hwy. 20 logging project Nordell wins ultra marathon stage race
will start next week
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Forest Service crews will
mark the trees that will fall
along the Highway 20 corri-
dor starting Monday, April 15.
Sisters District Ranger
Ian Reid told The Nugget on
April 8 that Goss Co. LLC
had been awarded a contract
for $225,300 to do the work.
They are expected to start
removing some 2,100 trees
near 20 west of Sisters on
Monday, April 29. The trees
were killed or damaged by the
application of the herbicide
Perspective.
<Part of the proposal is a
lot of hand-falling, so there
will be a lot of workers out
there 4 skilled workers,=
Inside...
Reid told The Nugget.
In addition to falling, there
will be a limited amount of
tree-topping to leave wildlife
snags in the area.
The problem with the trees
near Sisters began devel-
oping from 2013 to 2015
when Perspective was used
along the highway corri-
dor to remove brush within
the Oregon Department of
Transportation right of way.
The herbicide harmed pon-
derosa pines and other trees in
the area where it was applied.
An assessment by the U.S.
Forest Service determined
that thousands of trees in the
corridor west of Sisters are
dead or dying.
See LOGGING on page 30
S i s t e r s u l t r a - r u n n e r,
Ashley Nordell, 38, put
another feather in her cap
with a big-time win at her
favorite event, the Three
Days of Syllamo, a three-day
ultra-marathon stage race
challenge held in northern
Arkansas.
C o u n t i n g t h i s y e a r,
Nordell has taken part in the
Syllamo race nine times and
the event remains her favor-
ite among ultra marathon
competitions, due in large
part to the camaraderie that
has developed among run-
ners over the years.
<It9s a very low-key sort
of event that9s really down
home,= said Nordell. <It9s
See NORDELL on page 31
PHOTO PROVIDED
Ashley Nordell of Sisters (right) continues to stand among the elite in ultra
marathon running.
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Sisters Salutes .................11 Entertainment ..................13 Dear Property Guy ............ 25 Classifieds .................. 27-29
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Obituaries ........................21 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32