14
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FIREFIGHTERS: Local
team assisted with
structure protection
Continued from page 1
Ward said that the dam-
age reinforced the message
that keeping properties
clear and creating defen-
sible space is critical to fire
defense and survival. In a
catastrophic blaze such as
the one that hit the moun-
tain towns last week, noth-
ing can guarantee that a
house is going to survive.
But preparation at least
gives firefighters a fighting
chance.
<People that prepped
their property had the best
chance,= Ward said.
Ward also noted the
importance of having a plan
for evacuation. In the fires
that struck the Cascades,
residents often had only
minutes to get out of their
homes before the fire was
upon them.
<Living in the wildland/
urban interface like this, it9s
something that definitely
has to be in the forefront of
everybody9s mind,= he said.
The Sisters firefighter
has deployed to catastrophic
wildfires before, including
a massive blaze that devas-
tated Sonoma, California.
As he experienced
in Sonoma, Ward was
astounded at the apprecia-
tion expressed to firefight-
ers by people who had been
through an almost incompre-
hensible trauma and loss.
He acknowledged that
the impact is greater when
the fire has devastated an
area you grew up visiting.
<It9s a bit more of a per-
sonal fire when it9s close to
home,= he said.
Commentary...
WILDLIFE: Government
has scaled back
protections
Bull by Bull
By Judy Bull
Columnist
" I got lost in Sisters the
other day, after living here
for over 34 years. When
I needed to return from
where I9d just come, my
plan was to hang a U-turn
on Brooks Camp Road,
knowing it was a dead end.
Not only is Brooks Camp
Road now a through street,
I was met by huge apart-
ment buildings and houses
on both sides of the street.
McDonald9s Golden Arches
ahead was the only thing I
recognized.
" It9s beginning to feel a
lot like fall in Cloverdale.
The acrid smell of hemp
fields and the smoke from
wildfires permeate the air,
the nearby elk can be heard
bugling, and the Three
Sisters are as bare of snow
as I can remember. Oh, and
the badgers are back.
" George Carlin once
said, <When I was a kid,
if a guy got killed in a
Western movie I always
wondered who got his
horse.= Somehow, it makes
me wonder, too, who gets
all those beautiful horses
on the controversial statues
that have been torn down.
" Around this time of the
year I always enjoy stack-
ing my pellets and getting
hay in for the upcoming
winter. This is the first year,
however, that I have felt the
need to lay in books for the
winter to come. Thus far I
have stashed 14 whodun-
its, three autobiographies,
and 99-year-old Raymond
Alden9s newest release,
a nonprofit charity that provides
fully guided and outfitted trips for
disabled Veterans at no charge
more than 2,000 disabled
veterans have been served
All guides and board members are disabled veterans. There are
no paid employees. Warfighter Outfitters is 100% volunteer-based
and only spends donor dollars on basic operating costs of fuel and
food. All operating costs are funded by donor dollars.
Would you consider making a donation
to Warfighter Outfitters today?
warfighteroutfitters.org
Warfighter Outfitters • 541-719-0071 • 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
<Exploring the God Idea.=
" Some nights before
going to bed in the sum-
mertime, I drag my bare
feet through the newly
watered lawn to remove
the day9s dust. Works great,
especially right after I9ve
mowed. Talking mowing,
Lee Christensen found me
the greatest used mower on
Craig9s List (who is Craig,
anyway)? Just one pull and
I9m good to go. Seeing my
old mower going down the
road in the back of Lee9s
pickup, though, made me
feel like I was attending my
own estate sale.
" The doc has me moni-
toring my BP lately. I feel
as though I9m taking a lie
detector test every time I
check it; it9s impossible to
fool. Talking docs, some
of the best advice I ever
got from one a few years
back: <When it gets in the
way of your bowling, call
me.= I was all signed up to
get my knee replaced this
summer and decided to take
care of a big toe problem
before surgery. Long story
short, fixing my toe allowed
me to use my entire foot
properly for the first time
in many, many years and
straightened my leg right
up. Bingo: no knee surgery
and back to bowling 4
for now.
" One day after COVID
house arrest I came across
a tiny, dead, dried up, shriv-
eled mouse in the carport
closet. Instantly, I real-
ized it looked exactly like
I felt when we were first
set free from stay-at-home
orders.
Continued from page 9
using public lands for rec-
reation, grazing or energy
development.
The U.S. Supreme Court
called into question the defi-
nition of <critical habitat= in
a 2018 ruling. The Trump
administration this year
put forward a definition it
says will <balance effective,
science-based conservation
with common-sense policy
designed to bring the ESA
into the 21st century.=
Critics say the adminis-
tration9s definition appears
to rule out land or water that
needs restoration work or
sites that could become suit-
able for imperiled wildfire in
the future, particularly when
climate change is considered.
Since taking office,
President Donald Trump has
sought to scale back environ-
mental protections in favor
of industry, ranging from
shrinking national monu-
ments to opening up areas for
oil and gas drilling. He9s also
lifted or suspended environ-
mental regulations intended
to prevent pollution during
the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, the
administration released a
proposal that would change
the Endangered Species
Act to allow the govern-
ment to deny protections
for critical habitat to benefit
development.
Trump has also sought
to scale back or alter endan-
gered species rules, including
lifting blanket protections
for animals newly listed as
threatened and setting cost
estimates for saving species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, for example, desig-
nated critical habitat earlier
this year for slickspot pep-
pergrass, a rare desert flower
in southwestern Idaho, that
protected about 65 square
miles. But that9s about 30
square miles less than the
agency proposed in 2014.
We s t e r n Wa t e r s h e d s
Project, an environmental
group, blasted the decision
as reducing critical habitat to
only places where the plant
already grows rather than
including enough uninhab-
ited areas where the plant
could expand to and recover.
A final decision on the
definition for habitat is
expected by year9s end.
www.NuggetNews.com
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