Newsletters
Fall 2008 Winter 2009

Metolius Stewardhsip - Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Reduction Progress
(February, 2009) Thinning in the basin is ongoing this winter - with a twist. Reduced timber prices have meant that Melcher Brothers of Lebanon have had to find a new market for some of the smaller logs recently cut as part of the "Head" project near the headwaters of the Metolius. 1,000 + cords of small logs have been cut and sold for firewood along with the larger logs destined for area mills.

This project is a local example of the much broader Healthy Forest Initiative undertaken by the Forest Service nationally beginning in 2002 and resulting in over 2,000,000 acres of fuels reduction work.

Thinned logs

Low pressure tires reduce impact

Once overcrowded trees - now firewood

(March, 2009) The Metolius Forest Restoration Project is moving forward with funds from the 2009 Stimulus Bill. Before and after Forest Service photos show thinning and mechanized mowing along Forest Road 1120.

Metolius Stream Restoration

(February, 2009)

Near Riverside Campground ~1925

Click to enlarge
Hikers between the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery and Bridge 99 are beginning to notice the impact of the Forest Service's Metolius River Wood Restoration Project. The purpose of the project is to restore fish habitat in the Metolius in anticipation of the return of chinook salmon to the river. Specifically, the project seeks to:

• Create approximately 30% additional pool habitat
• Increase the quality of off-channel habitat area
• Increase slow water rearing habitat for juvenile trout and salmon
• Improve hiding cover for fish in slow water

Placement of logs began last fall and will continue into 2010. The ponderosa logs create pools and cover for resting and spawning fish in habitat that mimics the natural fall of trees into the river as suggested by the 1925 Forest Service photo of the Metolius above. Logs will be placed in approximately 173 sites along a 9.8 mile stretch of the river from Riverside Campground to Bridge 99, The section of the river below Bridge 99 to Candle Creek was originally proposed as part of the project, but concerns about boater safety prompted a change in the original plan. A detailed description of the original proposals in the November, 2006 Forest Service Newsletter from the Sisters Ranger District is available for your study as is a copy of he Environmental Analysis of the project.

Below Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery ~ 2009

Destination Resorts - Oregon Supreme Court to Hear Appeal
(January, 2009) The Oregon Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal brought by Friends and Central Oregon Landwatch regarding Jefferson County's new Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance and destination resort mapping. The state Land Use Board of Appeals decision in the case was generally upheld by Oregon's Court of Appeals in July, 2008. Friends' petition for review to the Supreme Court was one of only two out of 75 cases the court agreed to hear coming out of its December meeting. Oral arguments in the case will be made on June 11, 2009 with the court's decision coming later this year.

Friends and Central Oregon Landwatch will argue for a broader interpretation of State Planning Goal 5: Natural Resources, Scenic and Historic Areas, and Open Spaces; that the springs and aquifer feeding the Metolius River be considered a part of the protected resource, not simply the river itself and that Jefferson County's planning needs to assess the impact of resort development on the river in this broader sense.

Specifically the court's press release states that:

On review, the issues are:

1. Whether the assessment of conflicting new uses to a protected Goal 5 resource under OAR 660-023-0250(3)(b) need not take place if the means of impact is not itself a designated Goal 5 resource itself.

2. Whether the scope of a Goal 5 protected resource should be interpreted broadly to include all of its resources and to recognize specific protections over general exclusions.

A successful outcome of the appeal will require that the county perform an environmental, social, economic and energy analysis of the sites mapped for destination resorts taking into account the broader definition of the Metolius River resource.... click for the Oregon Appeals Court Decision in the case and for a complete Statement of the Issues before the Supreme Court

    Wizard Fire

    Prescribed Burn - Wizard Unit #61
    US Forest Service photo
    (December, 2008) The Forest Service has released its report on the recent Wizard Fire, the prescribed burn that escaped in late September burning approximately 1840 acres on Green Ridge just north and east of the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery.

    While Friends continues to support use of fire for purposes of fuels reduction and forest health the report sounds a clear cautionary note regarding follow-up to any burn:

    The Review Team found that the ignition phases of the prescribed fire were conducted successfully, but the prescribed fire escaped sometime between the night of September 24 and 12:25 September 25, 2008 during the patrol phase. The principle causal factor of the escape stemmed from a lack of patrolling of the unit the evening or next morning following ignition. No agency policy was violated, however the prescribed burn organization failed to implement required operational procedures.

    A complete copy of the Metolius Research Natural Area, Unit 61, Escaped Prescribed Fire Review is available for you to read.