30
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
PLANS: Numerous
projects are underway
this spring
Continued from page 1
The new headquarters
will have three separate
wings meant to symbolize
the Three Sisters 4 Faith,
Hope, and Charity. Reid
hopes that work will begin
on a new warehouse in
2022 and on the new head-
quarters in 2023. Within
the building will be a con-
ference room that will be
made available to 501(c)(3)
organizations after hours.
Housing for seasonal staff
will also be located on the
property.
The new station is
necessary to keep us
here (in Sisters)
— Sisters District
Ranger Ian Reid
Seasonal work getting
underway
A great deal of work is
planned or underway on the
District to mitigate dam-
age to the National Forest
from fires over the last
several years. Thousands
of new trees are being
planted in the Milli Fire
scar around Highway 242
west of Sisters, which
is scheduled to open on
June 21.
Since the Cache
Mountain Fire in 2002, the
Sisters Area Fuel Reduction
(SAFR) Program over the
past 20 years has allowed
for more successful fire
suppression and safer for-
est operations, according
to Andrew Myhra, Cascade
Division Fire Management
Officer and Fuels Specialist.
(See related story, page 1).
Myhra said that there
were 103 fire responses on
the Sisters Ranger District
in 2020 including the
Green Ridge Fire caused
by lightning, as well as the
Lionshead Fire that started
in the Metolius Basin and
then turned and headed west
over the hill. Myhra warned
that if there is a rapid spring
melt-off of snow, there could
be an earlier start to the 2021
fire season.
Haley Anderson, Sisters
Ranger District Silviculturist
and Vegetation Manager,
explained the danger tree
removal project on last
year9s Green Ridge fire area
to provide for long-term
public and employee safety
along the roadside. The tim-
ber sale in that area is being
used as a tool to conduct the
project, and is not the reason
for the project.
Danger trees are removed
if they stand within one-
and-a-half times their height
from the road. If a danger
tree (dead, dying or dis-
eased) is 100-feet tall and it
is 150-feet from the road, it
is removed.
A Green Ridge Landscape
Restoration Project is being
undertaken on 25,000 acres
to improve forest resiliency
and ecological function by
thinning the trees, aspen
restoration, and doing some
prescribed burning.
District Forester Steve
Orange discussed the Suttle
Lake Vegetation Project,
which includes Camp
Tamarack on Dark Lake
south of Suttle Lake. The
Forest Service hopes to be
finished with the removal of
dead, diseased, and danger
trees around May 1.
Other work in the area
that will require weekday
closures, will be at Link
Creek (done by Memorial
Day), the Suttle Lake Loop
Trail campground area, and
Scout Lake (done by mid-to-
late June). These areas will
be open to the public only
on the weekends while work
is underway. Roadside work
will take place between
Scout and Dark Lakes to
remove danger, dead, and
dying trees.
According to Mike
Reihle, District Fish
Biologist, First Creek Road
will be permanently closed
and decommissioned.
Decompacting of the road-
bed will enable planting of
vegetation to improve wild-
life habitat. That work will
be undertaken later in the
summer.
Areas of the Metolius
River that have been
restored by the instream
Wood Placement Project
have yielded three times
as many Chinook salmon
and two times as many red-
band trout, according to
the District. More logs are
scheduled for placement in
the river, but they will not be
in the main channel and will
not block boat passage.
Campgrounds and
permits
All fee campsites on the
Sisters Ranger District are
available by reservations
only on www.recreation.
gov, according to Sarah
B a u g h ma n , R e c re a tio n
Team Leader for the district.
All non-fee campgrounds
are first come-first serve.
Campers are encouraged
when doing disbursed camp-
ing to please use already
established sites to avoid
creating new sites.
Baughman reminded
equestrians to bring stock
water with them to Graham
Corral because there is cur-
rently uncertainly as to
whether or not water will be
available.
The new limited permit-
ting system for the wilder-
ness areas of Mt. Jefferson,
Mt. Washington, and Three
Sisters is necessary to protect
the wilderness from more
damage due to increased use
by the public, according to
Deschutes National Forest
Staff Officer Lisa Machnik.
Wilderness Permits in the
Central Cascades Wilderness
are required between the
Friday of Memorial Day
weekend and the last Friday
in September for all over-
night use. Some day use in
these wilderness areas also
requires permits.
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Track season opens
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
A year after losing the
entire spring track season to
the shutdown of the COVID-
19 pandemic, the Sisters
Outlaws track and field team
returned to the oval for the
<Breaking the Ice= meet
hosted by Crook County High
School on Thursday, April 15.
Head Coach Jeff Larson is
approaching the season some-
what differently than normal,
given how long athletes have
been away from the sport, and
the fact that the season is just
over six weeks long.
<Our goals for the sea-
son are to have fun, provide
competitive opportunities for
our seniors since this is their
last shot at high school track
and field, and to lay a foun-
dation which returning track
athletes in 2022 can build
upon,= he said. <My hope is
to reintroduce the sport to our
student-athletes.=
With just two weeks of
training under their belts,
Larson had no expectations.
<It was great to have the
chance to compete in the
spring sunshine,= said Larson.
The Crook County Cowboys
are always gracious hosts. We
competed hard, to the best of
our ability after only eight
practices. Despite our limited
time on the track, we still had
nearly 20 personal records.
Amazing!=
Top performances on the
girls side included wins by
Anya Shockley (5 feet) in
the high jump, Shelby Larson
in the pole vault (9 feet) and
Annie Cohen in the 400
meters (1:15.5).
The boys team had victo-
ries by 2019 state champion
Brody Anderson in the 400
(54.52), Carson Brown in the
javelin (140 feet 2 inches),
Taine Martin in the high jump
(5 feet 6 inches) and pole
vault (10 feet), and Hayden
Sharp in the long jump 19
feet 7 inches and 110 hurdles
(18.13).
Larson remains optimis-
tic about the Outlaws9 track
program.
<The program lost a lot
of momentum last year from
the shutdown,= he said.
<I9m thrilled to see over 50
middle schoolers out on the
track each day at practice, so
even though our high school
numbers are light, I think the
future is bright ....=
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