The Nugget
Vol. XLII No. 19
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Sisters shines
es in annual SALI tournament
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Sisters put on its most color-
ful spring clothes last weekend
for the Sisters Annual Lacrosse
Invitational (SALI) Tournament.
The weather was perfect 4
temperatures in the low 70s with
little wind, and the skies were
completely clear thanks to a Forest
Service pause in their annual spring
prescribed burning program (see
related story, page 1).
ed by
The tournament, sponsored
istrict
Sisters Park & Recreation District
(SPRD), and held on every avail-
ed 83
able field in Sisters, hosted
teams 4 20 more than last year.
SPRD9s Chad Rush, who
he
took the lead in organizing the
event, attributed the increase
to a couple of factors.
<We had more girls teams
this year (nine),= he said.
<This is the second year
offering games for girls.=
And, he noted, <We have
new clubs that haven9t been
here before.=
PHOTOS BY JERRY BALDOCK
T Teams from all across the Pacific
Northwest come to Sisters
for this year’s SALI.
Lacrosse is a sport for a wide
range of ages, and many young
players competed in Sisters.
See LACROSSE on page 30
Inside...
Crews worked quickly
to stop the spread of fire
through the surrounding veg-
etation and then turned their
attention to extinguishing
what was left of the cabin.
The cabin was a complete
loss estimated at $160,000
in total value. The cabin was
not occupied and there were
no reported injuries. Help
from partners from Black
Butte Ranch and Cloverdale
fire departments prevented
this incident from becoming
much worse, the Sisters dis-
trict noted.
Sisters-Camp Sherman
Fire District responded
with seven firefighters
and four emergency vehi-
cles. Additional units from
Cloverdale and Black Butte
Ranch fire departments
brought an additional six
firefighters. The Oregon
Office of State Fire Marshal
is investigating the cause.
Police
searching
for fuel
theft
suspect
Police are still searching
for a suspect who allegedly
stole fuel from the Cloverdale
Fire Station in the early hours
of May 5.
The sheriff9s office reports
that at about 5:41 a.m., law
enforcement responded to a
theft in progress report at the
Cloverdale Fire Station on
George Cyrus Road. It was
reported that a green and sil-
ver Chevrolet pickup was
stealing fuel from an onsite
commercial fuel tank. The
fuel was being put into large
black barrels in the truck bed.
A patrol deputy located the
vehicle at the intersection of
See FUEL THEFT on page 36
Why the forest must burn
Fire destroys gorge
cabin in Camp Sherman
A cabin along the Metolius
River was destroyed by a fire
late Wednesday night, May 1.
Sisters-Camp Sherman
Fire District was dispatched
to a reported vegetation/wild-
land fire in Camp Sherman
after a concerned citizen
reported seeing fire in the dis-
tance, believing it was on the
House on Metolius land.
Initial size-up by arriv-
ing personnel several hun-
dred feet away reported a
very active quarter-acre fire
with two- to four-foot flame
lengths in some areas, climb-
ing into nearby trees and
threatening a nearby struc-
ture. A closer look revealed
the most active section of
the fire was the remnants of
a structure that had burned to
the ground and was continu-
ing to actively burn.
The structure was located
at 10300 National Forest
Development Road 1419.
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Prescribed fire is ignited with torches in an effort to restore forest health and create zones that are defensible.
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
After 15 years of massive
and severe blazes that have
blackened landscape and
choked the community with
smoke for weeks at a time,
severely disrupting people9s
lives and the local economy,
Sisters lives in dread of wild-
fire each summer.
To push back against
those impacts, foresters must
fight fire with fire: specifi-
cally, prescribed fire.
Fire is not the enemy
of the forest 4 in fact, it9s
essential to the forest9s
health. Ponderosa pine for-
ests like those of Sisters
Country need fire to clear
out underbrush and small
trees and allow the big trees
to become towering, resilient
giants.
<That9s two thirds of
our landscape,= says Pete
Caligiuri, a forest ecolo-
gist with the Nature
Conservancy. <We live next
to these frequent-fire-adapted
landscapes.=
After decades of fire
See FOREST FIRE on page 38
Letters/Weather ..................2 Obituaries ......................... 10 Entertainment ................... 13 Home & Garden ..............17-24 Classifieds ....................34-36
Meetings .............................3 Announcements ................. 12 Mother’s Day Gift Guide ..14-15 Crossword .........................33 Real Estate .................. 36-40