SPORTS INSIDE, B3-5
• B SECTION • FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021
THE REGION’S HUB FOR
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES
Each week in this section, you will find the area’s
most complete guide of what’s open and closed;
outdoor activities and events; top picks of places to
explore; conditions of hiking and biking trails,
fishing holes, water flows, camping spots, parks
and more — as well as features from outdoor
writers and field experts.
Safety
on the
BY MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
I
t has been a dangerous,
deadly winter from
remote
slopes
avalanches across the
West.
As of Thursday,
33 backcountry
users had died
in avalanches in
MOUNTAINS
2021, according
to the National Avalanche
Center. Most of those deaths
occurred in Utah, Colorado,
Montana and Wyoming, where
snowpack has been weak, said
In a perilous avalanche season across the nation,
Central Oregon Avalanche Center helps to keep
local backcountry enthusiasts safe and informed
Kevin Grove, board member of
the Central Oregon Avalanche
Center.
Oregon has reported no ava-
lanche deaths this winter, but there
have been a fair number of close
calls right here in the Central Ore-
gon Cascades, according to Grove.
“And every time we hear of those,
that’s probably just a small fraction,”
Grove said. “Three weeks ago, when
we had 3 to 4 feet of snow over
three days, that’s when we were see-
ing a lot of the near misses. We’re al-
ways monitoring layers down in the
snowpack and paying attention to
current storms, and what the winds
are doing.”
The Central Oregon Avalanche
Center , or COAC , this winter for
the first time is providing an ava-
lanche danger rating four days per
week (Fridays through Mondays)
for the Central Oregon Cascade
Range on its website coavalanche.
org.
“In general, the last 10 years,
the average fatality numbers have
remained constant,” Grove said.
“Which is really remarkable con-
sidering the exponential growth of
backcountry users. As educators
and forecasters, we like to think that
all the work that we do is contrib-
uting to that. We like to think we’re
helping keep Central Oregon users
safe in the backcountry.”
See Avalanche / B9
John Sterling/Submitted photo
Bend’s Kevin Grove stands on a ridge
on North Sister during a backcountry
ski trip last month.
‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ author wraps up Nature Night Talk series
BY DAVID JASPER
The Bulletin
Ecologist Robin Wall
Kimmerer, the acclaimed au-
thor of “Braiding Sweetgrass,”
will conclude Deschutes Land
Trust’s 2021 Nature Night
Talk series with the lecture
“Reciprocity with the Natural
World” on March 17.
The New York-based Kim-
merer — “mother, scientist,
decorated professor, and en-
rolled member of the Citizen
Potawatomi Nation” per her
bio — will discuss via Zoom
the subject of restoration and
reciprocity; that is, the idea
that restoring systems to their
natural state not only heals the
land, but also heals humans’ re-
lationship to the land.
That’s a topic near and dear
to the nonprofit’s mission of
conserving and protecting
land in Central Oregon, for
Central Oregonians. Since its
1995 birth, the Land Trust has
preserved about 17,500 acres
in the region, a mix of prop-
erties it either owns or works
with landowners to protect for
wildlife, plants and local com-
munities.
In typical years, it holds its
Nature Night Talk events at the
Tower Theatre, according to
Sarah Mowry, Deschutes Land
Trust’s outreach director.
“Our goal with Nature
Nights has always been to help
people learn about the nature
of Central Oregon, and it’s a
really broad topic,” Mowry
said. “We’ve had folks come
and talk about bees. We’ve had
people talk about river resto-
ration.”
Due to the pandemic, this
year’s talks have all been con-
ducted virtually, “which is in-
teresting and different, and also
a great opportunity, because we
can get a lot more folks in, and
a lot more participation from
all over Central Oregon, which
is really cool,” Mowry said. In
January, Susanne Brander pre-
sented “A Closer Look at Mi-
croplastics,” and in February,
Tara Cornelisse weighed in on
“The Importance of Insects.”
“What’s really cool about
(Kimmerer), I think, person-
ally, is that she’s got this blend
of science — like the science,
ecologist side that our culture
really appreciates, but she’s
also got traditional ecological
knowledge, which is from the
indigenous culture, and then
blends those two together to
approach the natural world in
a really different way.”
See Author / B10
Kimmerer