Wednesday, February 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Metolius photographer
overcomes obstacles
TREE CUTTING: Project
is to mitigate power
line fire risk
Continued from page 1
By Conrad Weiler
Correspondent
Landscape photographer
Gary Albertson continues
his photographic work even
though he has faced years of
challenges with deteriorating
sight.
Albertson has pigment
dispersion glaucoma, which
occurs when pigment cells
in the eye slough off from
the back of the iris and float
around in the aqueous humor.
Gary ran his Sisters
Gallery and Frame shop in
Sisters for eight years. He
has lived in Camp Sherman
for 20 years and photographs
the Metolius River and sev-
eral of the local creeks. You
may see some of his work at
Sisters Gallery and Frame,
on Facebook (search: Gary
Albertson), or online at
GaryAlbertson.com.
Albertson says his eye
condition has made him
depend more on other senses
like hearing, smelling, touch-
ing and also remembering
what came to him during
composing and before tak-
ing a shot. Gary uses a Nikon
D750 digital camera for most
of his photo work.
To Albertson, the Metolius
PHOTO BY CONRAD WEILER
Gary Albertson continues to work
along his beloved Metolius River.
River sounds like soft, enjoy-
able music.
<It also is much like a reli-
gious experience when work-
ing near the river,= he says.
Gary9s career as a corpo-
rate graphic designer gave
him opportunity to see how
photographers worked. He
decided to go into photogra-
phy and became a very suc-
cessful landscape photo artist.
He also enjoyed writing and
created an outstanding book,
<Fire Mountain,= the story of
Mt. St. Helens eruptions.
As we all age, it9s good
to remember to keep moving
and do the things we enjoy,
regardless of obstacles.
Gary Albertson, at age 70,
is certainly an outstanding
example.
which in turn sparked what
would become the deadliest
and most costly wildfire in
California history.
<This proposal came to
us last year, so that was post-
Paradise and we wanted to be
mindful of that,= said Sisters
District Ranger Ian Reid.
CEC Director of Member
& Public Relations Brent ten
Pas confirmed that mitigation
of fire danger is a primary
focus of the $1.2-million
project.
The project will replace
poles that were originally
installed in 1940. the cur-
rent poles are 35 feet tall with
a four-foot crossbeam; the
replacement poles will stand
at 45 feet with an eight-foot
crossbeam. ten Pas said that
the added height, which offers
greater ground clearance, and
the broader crossbeam allow
poles to be set farther apart,
which will improve safety.
Burying the power lines
in the area is not a practical
alternative, according to Reid.
<First of all, it would be
very expensive,= he said.
<And there would be a lot
of ground disturbance to
bury them.=
According to ten Pas, <To
bury the lines, the general rule
of thumb is that costs are gen-
erally 2 to 1 more expensive.
Each project is unique and
expenses can vary signifi-
cantly due to location, terrain,
soil, digging, and unforeseen
issues.=
Reid said that the trees
have been GPS located, tal-
lied and marked. He said
that the number of 500
trees is <a pretty tight num-
ber,= though <there9s a little
bit of wiggle room just in
case there9s some ancillary
lines going to come off to
the tract homes out there in
Camp Sherman.=
The trees are categorized
as small, medium and large,
with the <large= category
starting at 20 inches in diam-
eter. Reid estimated that the
largest tree marked for felling
is 52 inches.
<The bulk of the trees are
in the small-to-medium cat-
egory,= Reid said, but <there
are definitely some large trees
in that corridor that are going
to be felled.=
The trees that will be cut
are those within 10 feet of the
center line of the corridor that
pose a danger of falling into
power lines.
Most of the felled trees
will be sold as forest product,
with about 40 to be used for
in-stream habitat enhance-
ment projects.
A decision on the project
is set for March, because the
Forest Service is <trying to
get CEC authorized to get out
there and do that work this
spring,= Reid said.
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PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
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