The Nugget
Vol. XLII No. 16
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Sisters
casts a
wary eye
toward fire
season
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Plane
incident
carries
lessons
for pilots
Art, learning and family fun...
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Local foresters covered
a lot of territory in a pub-
lic open house on Thursday,
April 11 4 but one issue
loomed over the Sister Fire
Hall Community Room like a
column of smoke: Fire season
is on its way.
<Everybody always wants
to know what fire season is
going to look like when you
bump into them in town,=
said James Osbourne, Sisters
Ranger District fire manage-
ment officer.
Osbourne walked through
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Kathy Deggendorfer and her grandson Frankie Borla did some engineering work at the Sisters Middle
School Expo last week. Hands on activities brought families together for educational and artistic fun
(see story, page 23).
Brian Lansburgh and a
passenger, also a pilot, made a
spectacular return home to the
Sisters airport on Wednesday,
April 10, landing his 1947
single-engine Piper PA-12,
then flipping it on final roll-
out. After examination of the
pilots by paramedics, the only
major injury was pilot pride,
even though the same can9t be
said about the plane.
Lansburgh was the CFI
(Certificated Flight Instructor)
conducting a bi-annual flight
review (BFR), a proficiency
test required of private pilots
every two years. Following
completion of the BFR at the
See FIRE SEASON on page 25
See PLANE on page 30
Logging project will
have traffic impact
Runners Rumble in Sisters
A logging contractor will
begin falling trees along
Highway 20 northwest of
Sisters on Monday, April 29.
The work is likely to have sig-
nificant impact on traffic into
and through Sisters.
Forest Service project
manager Steve Orange told
The Nugget that many of the
affected trees are close to the
highway. Between falling the
trees and cleaning up debris
and hauling logs away, impact
on the travel lanes is inevita-
ble and substantial.
The project will affect both
sides of 12.5 miles of high-
way westbound from Sisters.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation will pro-
vide traffic control during the
project, which is expected to
run from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
during the workweek and be
completed by May 22. ODOT
says that motorists should
anticipate delays up to 20
minutes.
The Peterson Ridge
Rumble 20- and 40-mile trail
race set records on Sunday,
April 14: The 17th annual
event drew more runners,
both two- and four-legged, in
the 20-mile portion than ever
before.
Sean Meissner, creator
and race director, was all
smiles as the event wrapped
up as he stood amidst hun-
dreds of happy finishers, both
human and canine, feasting
on post-race food catered by
Longboard Louie9s of Bend.
<Everything went about as
well as I could have hoped,=
he said. <The weather was
cool, but not a problem, the
trail was clear of snow, and
everyone seemed to have a
good experience.
Runners are allowed to
register with their canine
companions for the 20-miler
according to Meissner, and
Inside...
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Goss Co. LLC was
awarded a contract for
$225,300 to do the work.
The 2,100 trees that are being
removed were killed or dam-
aged by the application of
the herbicide Perspective.
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. The Forest
Service began marking trees
to be removed last Monday.
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
See RUMBLE on page 21
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Zander Albertson (left), once and always Outlaw, turned out for the
20-mile Peterson Ridge Rumble.
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Sisters Salutes .................. 9 Entertainment ..................13 Crossword ....................... 26 Obituaries ....................... 29
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Bunkhouse Chronicle ....... 18 Classifieds .................. 27-29 Real Estate .................29-32