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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Forest Service seeks
to protect caves
On the Deschutes National
Forest there are approxi-
mately 700 known caves,
which are often abused by
forest users, including van-
dalism, lighting fires, playing
music, excavating and remov-
ing geologic and archaeologic
resources, installing per-
manent anchors or bolts for
climbing, leaving human and
domestic animal body waste,
and disturbing bats and other
wildlife.
The Deschutes National
Forest is seeking public com-
ment on a proposed Cave
Management Forest Order
that would prohibit specific
activities in and around caves
where these activities are
causing adverse impacts to
cave resources. Most of these
prohibitions are taken from
existing forest orders and the
proposed order would com-
bine these orders into one
with some additional changes.
In addition to current pro-
hibitions, the proposed Cave
Management Forest Order
would:
" Protect all cave sinks
and a 50-foot buffer from any
cave entrance or opening.
" Prohibit lighting, main-
taining, attending, or using
any burning material; dig-
ging, excavating, and/or
depositing any foreign mate-
rial; playing live or recorded
music; broadcasting glitter,
dust (beyond what is naturally
produced by walking and
crawling), smoke, or other
substances into the air; slack-
lining; and depositing any
domestic animal body waste
within all caves.
" Prohibit entering or
being in Lava River Cave
(west tube, show cave) from
October 1 through April 30
(winter closure), or until the
beginning of the open season,
whichever is latest; entering
or being in Lava River Cave
(west tube, show cave) from
May 1 to September 30, or
after the end of the open sea-
son, whichever is earliest,
between the hours of 5 p.m.
and 9 a.m.; entering or being
in the last 300 feet of the west
tube (west tube, show cave);
entering or being in the gated
east tube of the cave year
round; and climbing or boul-
dering within the cave, cave
sink, and within 50 feet of
any cave entrance, opening,
or cave sink.
" Prohibit entering or being
within Skeleton Cave year-
round and climbing or boul-
dering inside or outside the
gate at the cave entrance from
October 1 through April 30.
" Close year-round Bat,
Charlie the Cave (both upper
and lower chambers), Cody
Borehole, Eternity, Infinity,
Lavacicle and Wind caves.
" Seasonally close Arnold
Ice, Lee9s, Lower Quartz
Mountain, and Skylight caves
October 1 through April 30.
The public comment
period will end on July
23. The draft environmen-
tal assessment is available
online at www.fs.usda.gov/
project/?project=57443.
Written comments must be
submitted using one of the
following methods:
" Electronic comments can
be submitted to comments-
pacificnorthwest-deschutes@
usda.gov. Electronic com-
ments must be submitted as
part of the email message or
as an attachment in Microsoft
Word (.doc), rich text format
(.rtf), or portable document
format (.pdf) only.
" For electronically sub-
mitted comments, the sender
should receive an automated
acknowledgment from the
agency as confirmation of
receipt. If the sender does not
receive automated acknowl-
edgment of the receipt of the
comments, it is the sender9s
responsibility to ensure timely
receipt by other means.
" Postal mail or hand-
delivery (Monday through
Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
excluding holidays) to: Forest
Supervisor Holly Jewkes,
c/o Sasha Fertig, 63095
Deschutes Market Rd., Bend,
OR 97701.
" FAX: 541-383-5553.
Only people who submit
timely and specific written
comments will have eligi-
bility to file an objection.
Names and contact informa-
tion submitted with com-
ments will become part
of the public record and
may be released under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Additional information can be
obtained from Environmental
Coordinator Sasha Fertig,
541-383-5563, sasha.fertig@
usda.gov.
Hazardous City of Sisters
COVID-19 Situation Report
waste
disposal
event set
in Sisters
By Cory Misley
City Manager
This summer, Deschutes
C o u n t y 9s D e p a r t m e n t
of Solid Waste is host-
ing special one-day col-
lection events in La Pine,
Redmond and Sisters where
residents can drop off house-
hold hazardous waste for
free.
<This is a great chance
for people to get rid of their
household hazardous waste,
which can be difficult to dis-
pose of in a safe way,= said
Timm Schimke, Deschutes
County9s Director of Solid
Waste. <Events like these
help people dispose of haz-
ardous items correctly and
helps keep them out of the of
landfill.=
At each event, residents
can drop off household
hazardous waste products
such as lawn and garden-
ing materials, photo and
swimming pool chemicals,
paint and related products,
cleaning solutions, motor
oil and used gas, batter-
ies, fluorescent bulbs and
tubes, and small propane
tanks.
Business-generated
hazardous waste, medical
waste, explosives, fireworks,
drums, compressed gas cyl-
inders and barrels will not be
accepted.
The Sisters event is set
for Saturday, August 1, 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sisters
Recycling Center 328 W.
Sisters Park Dr.
For more information,
call the Department of Solid
Waste at 541-317-3163.
The City of Sisters sup-
ports creating a community
as safe and prosperous as
possible during the COVID-
19 pandemic.
The science shows that
use of face coverings sig-
nificantly reduces the spread
of the virus, especially in
indoor environments.
Governor Brown9s order
to wear face coverings in
public indoor spaces is an
attempt to keep Oregon
open. If we cannot diligently
exercise social distancing,
hand washing, and wear
face coverings, while pub-
lic health officials continue
to expand testing and con-
tact tracing, we may move
backwards in the phased
re-opening.
As we are all hearing,
many states around the
country are experiencing
significant surges in case
counts and many are tight-
ening restrictions reminis-
cent of the beginning of
the pandemic. It is critical
that everyone embrace the
simple act of wearing a face
covering in public indoor
spaces for their own sake
and even more their neigh-
bors and fellow Americans.
Regarding enforcement, if
it unfortunately comes to
that, below is a statement
from the Deschutes County
Sheriff9s Office that pro-
vides law enforcement ser-
vice to the City of Sisters.
The Deschutes County
Sheriff 9s Office Public
Information Officer
Lieutenant William Bailey,
also serving effective July
1, 2020 as the City of Sisters
interim Lieutenant or de
facto police chief through
the new law enforcement
contract, shared a message
for the community regard-
ing COVID-19 and face
coverings.
<Central Oregon law
enforcement agencies have
received questions about
what our roles are in enforc-
ing the Governor9s order to
wear face coverings inside
public buildings. It has
always been our goal to help
community members under-
stand the health and safety
guidelines that have been put
into place across Oregon.
Our philosophy of enforcing
this and other orders will
continue to be education
and to seek voluntary com-
pliance. As the Governor
has stated, the expectation is
that OSHA Oregon will take
the lead in enforcing her
facemask requirement. Law
Enforcement will respond
to and investigate all calls
for service from business
owners who report disputes
or disturbances related to
the face-mask requirement,
and then take the appropri-
ate enforcement action if
necessary. Unless the call
requires a law enforce-
ment response, call OSHA
at the toll-free number,
800-922-2689.=
Learn more at www.ci.sisters.or.us
YOUTH VOLUNTEER
SOCCER COACHES
WANTED!
WHAT PANDEMIC?
W ’ getting
We’re
tti pampered d with
ith h room service
i h happy
hour, ice cream sundaes, and popcorn for the movies.
WE L OV E IT HERE!
Apply Online at SistersRecreation.com
SistersRecreation.com • 541-549-2091
1750 W. McKinney Butte Rd.
SNO CAP
411 E. Carpenter Ln. • Th eLodgeInSisters.com
541-549-5634
MINI STORAGE
Sisters Industrial Park
157 Sisters Park Dr. • 541-549-3575
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