The Nugget Vol. XLVII No. 26
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News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
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Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Spotted owls meet new challenge in Sisters Big
Ponderoo rolls into Sisters
By Bill Bartlett Correspondent
Already burdened by diminished habitat, the few remaining spotted owls around Sisters are faced with a new threat: their family relative, the barred owl. The barred owl (Strix varia) is the eastern cousin to our western spotted owl (Strix occidentalis). Like the spotted owl, the barred owl lives in forests, hunts at night, and feeds largely on small mammals. They differ in that the barred owl is more of a generalist, opportunistic predator (feeding also on crayfish, snakes, even small birds and insects), has a broader habitat tolerance, and is slightly larger and more aggressive than the spotted owl. In the last 100 years, barred owls have gradually extended their range westward, and around 1959, they began to formally “invade” the spotted owl’s range in British Columbia. By the 1970’s, barred owls were documented in Washington and Oregon. With possibly fewer than 100 spotted owls in all of the Deschutes National Forest, biologists are worried by the proliferation of the barred owl. Sisters has lost most of
Inside...
See OWLS on page 6
See PONDEROO on page 7
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
Forest Service biologists Laura McMahon and Liz Day are using technology to monitor for spotted owls in the forest near Sisters. its spotted owl habitat as a result of wildfire. There are no definitive numbers but most estimates are in the range of 2,000 remaining breeding pairs in the Northwest. The barred owl is crowding out the less aggressive northern spotted owl
Sisters community mourns a tragedy The Sisters Community is in mourning this week, grieving the loss of two teens who died in a dirt bike accident. on Wednesday, June 19. Their names are currently being withheld as the families request privacy. The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reports that deputies were dispatched to a report of a dirt bike crash on U.S. Forest Service Road 1028, south of Skylight Cave off Highway 242. Four juveniles were riding in pairs on two dirt bikes on U.S. Forest Service Road 1028. Two of the juveniles did not arrive at their destination. Two of the riders checked the area and located the other two juveniles — a 14-year-old boy
Conservationists and animal welfare advocates are debating the moral issue of killing one species to protect another. District Ranger Ian Reid does not envision any such action in the Sisters District.
Sisters is set to let loose with a multi-day celebration of Americana music in the second annual Big Ponderoo Festival, staged by SFF presents. The two-day festival running Saturday-Sunday, June 29-30, features an array of alt-country and bluegrass, with blues-and-soulinflected bands and in the mix. “Ponderoo leans toward fun, high-energy bands,” said SFF Creative Director Brad Tisdel. This year, the festival will be presented at one venue, in Village Green Park. Two stages the Ponderoo Stage and the Pinecone Stage will run in tandem — when the music ends on one, it starts up on the other. “The music’s going to start at noon on Saturday, and it won’t stop till midnight,” Tisdel said. Music runs Sunday till 8:30 p.m.
and a 14-year-old girl — who had crashed their dirt bike and were seriously injured. The juveniles on scene began life-saving efforts and contacted 911. A passerby assisted the juveniles until deputies arrived and took over life-saving measures. Paramedics arrived a short time after the deputies, continuing life saving measures. Both juveniles were wearing helmets at the time of the crash; speed and variable terrain appear to be factors in the crash, DCSO reports. Both youths were pronounced dead at the scene. Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office detectives See TRAGEDY on page 23
according to the USFWS (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). To ensure the survival of the spotted owl, a threatened species, the service is proposing the mass removal of over 470,000 barred owls across California, Washington, and Oregon over a three-decade span.
Tollgate home destroyed in fire A young family escaped a fire in a house on the western edge of Tollgate on Friday, June 21, that completely destroyed their home. Firefighters from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District (SCSFD) responded to a report of a house fire on Saddle Horn in the Tollgate subdivision near Sisters. Crews arrived to find a single-family home heavily involved in fire, with fire spreading to the grass and brush. The initial arriving engine crews from Sisters, supported by an engine from the Cloverdale Fire District, a ladder truck from Black Butte Ranch Fire Department, and the U.S. Forest Service were able to bring the fire under control, but the home and
PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS-CAMP SHERMAN FIRE DISTRICT
See FIRE on page 11
Firefighters responded to a house fire in Tollgate. The family escaped unharmed, but lost everything in the incident. One firefighter was injured.
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Roundabout Sisters .......... 4 Entertainment ................. 11 Crossword ...................... 20 Sisters Salutes ............... 23 Meetings .......................... 3 Announcements...............10 Life is a Game .................. 17 Classifieds..................21-23 Sudoku ........................... 23