The Nugget
Vol. XLV No. 6
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Bulge e is reminder that we live among
By Bill Bartlett
Correspondent
Scientists have detected
an increase in the rate of
uplift of the ground surface
in the Three Sisters volcanic
region of the Central Oregon
Cascade Range. The United
States Geologic Survey
(USGS) released an infor-
mation statement last week
from the Cascades Volcano
Observatory with respect
to Three Sisters Volcano
(complex).
The volcanoes9 status
remains normal/green, and
there is no sign of an immi-
nent eruption. Episodes of
increased uplift have been
observed in this area before
and are attributed to small
pulses of magma moving
deep into the volcanic region.
Jon Major, scientist in
charge at the observatory,
said the activity is prob-
ably coming from pulses of
magma moving about four
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
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Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
VOLCANOES
PHOTO BY JAROD GATLEY
A bit of uplift in the Three Sisters Volcano complex is no cause for alarm —but an interesting reminder of the
geology of the region we call home.
underground. If the volcano much faster pace,= Major
miles underground.
< T h e r e 9s n o i m m i - were close to erupting, the said.
<There would be a lot
nent threat,= he said. <Our magma would be breaking
interpretation is it9s prob- more rock, generating bigger more signs that magma was
ably related to ongoing earthquakes, releasing gases,
See BULGE on page 21
small inputs of magma deep and lifting the ground at a
Cocaine
trafficking
bust in
Sisters
A traffic stop on Highway
20 in Sisters, at about
5:30 p.m. on Wednesday,
February 2, capped a long-
term Central Oregon Drug
Enforcement (CODE) team
investigation with the arrest
of Dorian Jay Decker, 28, of
Bend.
According to the CODE
team, detectives identified
Decker as a cocaine traf-
ficker in Central Oregon.
Decker allegedly has
imported large quantities
of cocaine from other parts
of Oregon into the Bend
area, where it is distributed
through various networks.
After a multi-county
See COCAINE on page 16
School district acquires When the well runs dry
Wildhaven Preserve
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
Sisters schools will soon
have an exceptional out-
door environmental educa-
tion classroom in the Sisters
backcountry. The Wildhaven
Preserve, a 160-acre property
in the Stevens Canyon area
that has been cared for and
protected as far back as 1970,
became the responsibility of
the Sisters School District
following a transfer from the
Nature Conservancy, which
had overseen the land since
1982.
Originally purchased as
a private conservation area
by Vivien and Gil Staender
in 1970, the land includes a
unique ecosystem of native
grasses, ponderosa pines,
and ancient junipers. It is
also a haven for wildlife.
From the outset, the
Staenders named the Nature
Conservancy to inherit the
property, in order to ensure
that it remain environmen-
tally protected in perpetuity.
According to a record-
ing by Gil Staender relating
Inside...
the history of the place, the
Staenders became disheart-
ened by the rapid develop-
ment of the area where they
lived near Lake Oswego and
went looking for a property
they felt they could actu-
ally conserve. According to
the recording, the Staenders
bought the land for $100 an
acre from a man who claimed
to have won the property in a
poker game. The Staenders,
who were true pioneering
environmentalists, had made
a plan to live in the Alaska
wilderness, literally in the
Arctic, for a year around the
time of the purchase, and
drew up a will naming the
Nature Conservancy as the
beneficiary of the property in
case they didn9t survive their
Arctic experiment.
The Staenders did sur-
vive, and returned to Oregon
to live on the property. They
lived in tents for nearly seven
years before completing the
Nature House, built almost
entirely of native rock from
the area. Gil Staender taught
See PRESERVE on page 15
Braxton Holly has lived on
his 10-acre parcel of land off
Holmes Road over 25 years.
When he moved from the val-
ley to Sisters, it was 10 acres
of scrub, trees, rocks, and no
surface water.
The surrounding properties
are all five- and 10-acre par-
cels, each requiring a well to
provide running water. Back
behind his property there is
an old dry lakebed, indicating
that at some point in time, the
area contained a surface water
source, but no more.
One of the challenging
geological features of that
area is underground lava tubes
and caverns which create
voids that a drill will encoun-
ter when drilling for water. If
the voids are left open while
drilling, when the drill hits
water, it can run out into those
voids. Filling them with con-
crete can reduce the chance of
that happening, but it doesn9t
always work, as was the case
for Holly.
Another challenge is pre-
sented by the rock beneath the
soil. Holly faced both those
challenges when he drilled
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Braxton Holly ended up spending about $70,000 getting a new well
installed when his original well ran dry.
his original well 4 and the
new one he drilled last sum-
mer. The initial well was at a
depth of 550 feet. After about
15 years, the pump died and
the well-drillers declared the
well dead. Not one to give up
so easily, Holly asked them to
See WELL on page 18
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Announcements ...............10 Entertainment ................. 11 Obituaries .......................13 Classifieds ................. 19-20
Meetings .......................... 3 Fun & Games ....................10 Stars over Sisters ............14 Crossword .......................18 Real Estate .................21-24