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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021
Redmond, Oregon • $1
redmondspokesman.com
A special good morning to subscriber Gary Couch
@RedmondSpox
Massive housing project inches along Is another
Skyline Village will bring ‘desperately’
needed units to northeast Redmond
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
It may take a while before new homes and apart-
ments are standing, but the city of Redmond is still
pushing forward with its 485-unit Skyline Village
housing project.
The Redmond City Council approved several ma-
jor benchmarks at its meeting last week to get con-
struction started in the city’s northeast corner. And
the potential for hundreds of new housing units
— half of them affordable — in a region that badly
needs them is exciting to local advocates.
“You can’t keep a house on the market for more
than a week,” said state Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond.
“We desperately need more housing in Central Ore-
gon.”
Skyline Village was made possible with the pas-
sage of Oregon House Bill 2336, signed by Gov. Kate
Brown in 2019. The bill, sponsored by Zika, is allow-
ing Redmond to build Skyline Village without having
to go through the state’s strictest land-use rules.
The current plan for the development is a 40-acre
neighborhood with 485 housing units of varying
types, according to city documents. At least half
of those units will be reserved for those who make
80% of the area median income or less — mean-
ing about $52,070 or less, according to U.S. Census
data.
See Skyline / P4
explosive
fire season
ahead?
Fuel moisture levels
drop to seasonal lows,
sparking early blazes
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
MAKING A BLUE MIDDLE DESCHUTES
A LITTLE
Seven months ago, Central
Oregonians felt the impact of
some of the worst wildfires in
this state’s history. Now there is
growing concern that dry fuels
across the region could ignite
even bigger fires this year.
Tinderbox conditions have
already ignited several fires
around Central Oregon this
year, even as higher elevations
are still blanketed with snow.
Part of that is due to a drying
out of the forests at lower ele-
vations, which are experienc-
ing some of the lowest mois-
ture levels recorded in years.
“The outlook is for an early
fire season,” said Kevin Stock,
fire and aviation staff officer
for Central Oregon Fire Man-
agement Service. “We are way
behind in precipitation. It has
been warm and dry through
April, (causing) severe and ex-
ceptional drought.”
Fire officials categorize fuels
by size and how long it takes
atmospheric moisture to im-
pact two-thirds of its material.
Trees and brush can be 1,000-
hour fuels while small fuels
such as leaves and grass, fall
into the 10-hour fuels category.
The 1,000-hour fuel mois-
ture level, one of the main
instruments scientists use to
determine how dry a forest
has become, was down to 15%
on Friday when the average
for this time of year is around
20%. Just a month ago the
moisture level was 25%. The
higher the percentage, the less
likely there is a chance of ex-
treme fire behavior.
Fuel moisture level, mea-
sured with electronic equip-
ment, indicates how a wildfire
will behave in a certain area.
When available fuels are moist
the combustion slows down,
causing fires to burn most
slowly and with less intensity.
The opposite occurs when
available fuels are dry.
The indexes used by fire of-
ficials to gauge moisture levels
are well below average, said
Boone Zimmerlee, who is re-
sponsible for facilitating the
growth of a fire-adapted com-
munity strategy in Deschutes
County through management
of a wildfire preparedness pro-
gram.
GREENER
Two trucks’ worth of
debris hauled away
from scenic river
area for Earth Day
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
O
n a stretch of canyon
high above the Deschutes
River near Crooked River
Ranch, Marilynne Keyser
stoops down, picks up someone’s
discarded belt, and drops it into a
plastic bag. Moving along, the re-
tired CPA scoops up more refuse
— cans, shotgun shells, plastic bags
and other bits of junk.
Keyser was doing her Earth Day
duty of cleaning up the Steamboat
Rock Recreation Area, located
around 5 miles west of Terrebonne.
She was leading a group of around
30 volunteers to restore an area
that has been covered in waste left
behind by weekend off-roaders
and campers.
Keyser’s group of volunteers —
the Friends and Neighbors of the
Deschutes Canyon Area — focus
their cleanup efforts around the
Lower Crooked River, Lower Wy-
chus Creek, and the Middle De-
schutes River. Her group was one of
many that spent Earth Day cleaning
up parks, streets, and public spaces
in Bend, Redmond and other com-
munities in Central Oregon.
See River / P5
RIGHT: Volunteers (from left)
Jerry Garland, Linda Buttolph,
Susie Garland and Wayne
Buttolph offload trash they
collected during an Earth Day
cleanup on BLM land near
Terrebonne on Thursday.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
See Wildfires / P5
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
WEDNESDAY 4/28
Events in and around Redmond
The Redmond Spokesman welcomes event information for
its community calendar. Submissions are limited to nonprofit,
free and live entertainment events. Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday
for the following Wednesday’s paper. Items are published on a
space-available basis and may be edited. Contact us at
news@redmondspokesman.com or fax 541-548-3203.
Foley Waters Hike: The guided hike will
follow lesser-known paths with a bit of cross
country travel, looking at spring plants, a
fraudulent gold mine and local geology;
9 a.m.-Noon; registration required; Steelhead
Falls Trailhead, River Road, Crooked River
Ranch; eventbrite.com
Find your Zoom Zen: The Sunriver Area
Chamber of Commerce invites you to take a
deep breath, relax and how to zestfully find
your Zoom zen; Noon-1 p.m.; online; go.evvnt.
com/770774-0 or 971-282-3970.
Redmond School Board Budget
Committee and Board Meeting: The board
will meet for a budget meeting followed by
a full board meeting; 5:30-8:30 p.m.; online;
go.evvnt.com/769782-0 or 541-923-5437.
will discuss their books on the wolves of
Yellowstone National Park; 6:30-8 p.m.;
registration required; online; go.evvnt.
com/770407-1 or 541-549-0866.
Redmond Budget Committee Meeting
and Public Hearing: The committee will
meet to discuss possible uses of state revenue
sharing funds; 6-7 p.m.; online; go.evvnt.
com/773346-0 or 541-923-7710.
THURSDAY 4/29
Puzzles ............. 2 Obituaries ....... 4
Police log ........ 2 Classifieds ....... 4
Tam-A-Lau Trail Hike: This guided hike will
offer spectacular views of Lake Billy Chinook
and the entire Cascade range; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.;
registration required; Tam-a-láu Loop Hike, Cove
Palisades State Park, Culver; eventbrite.com
Volume 111, No. 35
USPS 778-040
Rediscovered Reads Book Club: Discussing
“The Story of Arthur Truluv” by Elizabeth Berg;
6-7 p.m.; online; go.evvnt.com/753635-0 or
541-306-6564.
Author Event — Rick McIntyre and Kira
Cassidy in Conversation: The authors
Take Back the Night Online: The event
to bring awareness to sexual violence and
See Calendar / P4
INDEX
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