Wednesday, April 17, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
25
Forest Service
plans a busy year
FIRE SEASON:
Drought conditions
will persist in region
Continued from page 1
the Northwest Interagency
Coordinating Center
(NWCC) seasonal fire poten-
tial model with the two-dozen
or so local citizens who
turned out for the open house.
The good news is that
the heavy late snowfall that
hammered Sisters at the
end of February has left the
snowpack in the mountains
at 110 percent of normal.
Unfortunately, however,
that9s not enough to break
ongoing drought.
<With that moisture,
they9re still predicting
drought for us,= Osbourne
said.
Models are predicting a
<warmer than typical May-
June-July,= which could make
for an active fire season. The
next fire potential outlook
will be released in May and
can be accessed at https://
gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/predict/
outlook.aspx.
Fire was on the minds of
the participants in a Q&A ses-
sion. The first question asked
for a comparison between
Sisters9 situation and that of
Paradise, California, which
was destroyed by wildfire last
summer.
Osbourne and Sisters
Ranger District timber sale
coordinator Steve Orange
offered some assurances.
<We9ve done a lot of work
around here in the last 20
years,= Osborne noted.
That work includes pre-
scribed burning and thin-
ning projects to make forests
healthier and less susceptible
to catastrophic wildfire, and
to make homes in the urban-
wildland interface more
defensible.
<We9ve done a lot of log-
ging right in people9s back-
yards,= Orange noted, citing
projects near Black Butte
Ranch and Crossroads as
examples.
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Forest Service fish biologist Mike Riehle confers with a Sisters citizen at a
Forest Service open house on Thursday, April 11.
The SAFR (Sisters Area
Fuels Reduction) project was
designed to decrease haz-
ardous fuels accumulations
within the wildland-urban
interface adjacent to the city
of Sisters and surrounding
communities to reduce the
risk of high-intensity wildfire.
Orange noted that the
recent Melvin Butte project
reduced fuels south of Sisters,
where the threat of fire could
be significant.
<You9ll see major changes
going up the 16 Road to the
snowpark,= he said.
In comparison to Paradise,
<we9re well ahead of where
they were,= Osbourne said.
<That said, we9re not out of
the woods, obviously.=
In an ongoing effort to,
as Osbourne puts it, <fight
fire out in the woods and not
on people9s doorstep,= the
Sisters Ranger District will
engage in prescribed burns
of about 650 acres total this
spring.
While fire is the greatest
concern for an area that has
seen 50 percent of the Sisters
Ranger District territory burn
since 2002, there are other
issues of pressing concern.
One citizen asked about ille-
gal dumping and <off-site=
camping in the forest.
SRD Law Enforcement
Officer Fred Perl acknowl-
edged that dumping is a sig-
nificant issue.
<It goes on relentlessly,=
he said.
Perl relies on citizen tips
when they see violations,
and he noted, <I try to pros-
ecute every case that comes
across& my desk.=
However, Sisters District
Ranger Ian Reid acknowl-
edged that keeping up with
dumping could be a full-time
gig.
<If we devoted all of
our resources to trash, we
wouldn9t get a lot of other
things done,= he said.
Dispersed camping in the
forest, often by homeless peo-
ple, is also an issue. There is
a 14-day limit on how long a
person can stay in a spot, and
when they move they9re sup-
posed to move five miles. It9s
up to Perl to enforce that.
Perl acknowledged that
dealing with homelessness in
Sisters <is a community issue
for all of us,= and noted that
he works consistently with
other community agencies
and citizens to address the
issues associated with it.
<It9s a very difficult issue
to deal with, but we are deal-
ing with it,= he said.
The Sisters Ranger
District will be a beehive of
activity in 2019.
<We spent a lot of last
year recovering from the
Milli Fire,= Ranger Ian
Reid told some two-dozen
Sisters folks at an open
house on Thursday evening
at the Sisters Fire District
Community Room.
That included reopening
trails, including the iconic
trail to the summit of Black
Crater, which was severely
impacted by that 2017 blaze.
The District also did
significant work to restore
natural hydrology in Glaze
Meadow; to mitigate ribbon
grass along the Metolius
River; and engaged in an
active prescribed burning
program.
2019 is shaping up to
offer a wide scope of proj-
ects. In addition to oversee-
ing the removal of 2,100
trees along the Highway 20
corridor (see related story,
page 1), the Sisters Ranger
District will conduct a major
project to fell dangerous
and/or diseased trees and
replant and transplant in the
Suttle Lake area. The proj-
ect is designed to address
safety concerns and also to
promote the health of the
forest.
They will also launch
a major habitat restoration
and vegetation management
project on Green Ridge.
<We9re still developing
what that project will look
like,= Reid said.
One of the last fish pas-
sage barriers on Whychus
Creek will be removed and
new trail connectors will
be added to the popular
Peterson Ridge trail, and the
trailhead will be moved.
Reid said the District will
staff its office on Saturdays
for two months at the height
of summer.
A permanent toilet will
be installed at the Whychus
Overlook Trailhead and a
new bridge will be emplaced
over Indian Ford Creek.
And, if all goes to plan,
the District will come out
with a new District map 4
waterproof and in color 4
the first update in 19 years.
A final decision on fees
for The Cascade Wilderness
Strategies Project 4
intended to protect the wil-
derness from overuse by
controlling public access.
Reid clarified that there
will be a single fee associ-
ated with a new permitting
system.
<There would not be an
additional stewardship fee
on top of the fee,= he said.
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