Close Encounters of the Wildlife Kind
Let me begin by stating that I am not a wildlife biologist, or any other type of “ologist.” I did, however, spend a career in conservation, including nearly a decade working in Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) member institutions. I’ve worked with and around a lot of animals and, from many miles on trails, am reasonably familiar with wildlife. I believe this year, especially this fall, is going to be particularly tough on the diverse wildlife in our region.
It is so very dry that limited forage is drying out quickly and noticeably. Mid-summer through fall tends to be a dry season for us. As forage conditions become more dire, herbivores will likely gravitate to greener pastures, like golf courses, lawns and bodies of water, artificial (like farm ponds) and otherwise (like streams and popular swimming holes). Predators, like mountain lions, and omnivores, like bears and coyotes, tend to follow the herbivores into these greener areas. Not only is there more “natural” food available, there is the added bonus of the occasional fruit tree, trash can or pet.
This is where things can get interesting. Be ready to embrace potential close encounters with your wild neighbors, and do what you can to keep you and your pet friends safe. I also encourage you to do what you can to reduce stress on the kindred creatures of forest and field. Some will be hanging on by a thread.
—Kevin Tanski
Re: Wrong Side of the Line July 15, 2026
The article about our town’s Urban Growth Boundary appears biased. Opening an article with positive descriptions and nice quotes from a powerful developer leads the reader to sympathize with that developer. Proceeding to use a large, red sub header quoting a lobbyist for development and real estate groups (“A ‘Gift’ for Sisters”) does the same. Finishing with more nice quotes from the powerful developer is appalling, given what came before.
I’ve written about these issues in The Nugget newspaper here in Sisters. Plenty of others have, too including the developer himself, who talked up his proposed changes to the existing UGB plans and provided an elaborate, confusing chart showing why such homes are considered “affordable housing.”
Even a friend of the developer wrote in, pushing back against the developer’s statements.
I’m not anti-development. My cousins are developers. I appreciate some of what this developer has brought to our community. I’m not even opposed to his proposed west side plans. I’m opposed to the process he’s chosen—and his choice of language.
Government agencies and developers using the term affordable housing to describe homes the average gas station attendant could never buy? They should be ashamed of how they twist language. The $98,800 annual income required to qualify for some so-called affordable housing in Deschutes County (according to the developer himself) doesn’t serve people with lower and low-ish middle incomes.
What about the construction workers who build these homes, whether employees or subcontractors? Do they all make nearly $100k and benefits?
—Tiffany Lee Brown
Unhappy with Bynum
Janelle Bynum abstained from voting on an amendment to stop giving $3.3 million in weapons funding to Israel. She has again shown herself to be a moral coward and out of touch with her constituents.
The people of Or-5 deserve a representative, not a shill to foreign powers that sells junk food to children and supports — actively or tacitly — the sale of weapons to people that murder children.
We should all say bye-bye to Bynum when we get the chance.
—Richard Fitzgerald
New Sewer Line
Each morning at seven, they come in dump trucks
Big shovels and rock-breaking rigs
The racket they make would wake the dead
I try to hide as they dig
But there’s no escape, the sewer is coming
Our city council decreed
Our septics work fine but the city can’t profit
When we process our own poop and pee
Our summer is ruined, our houses are shaking
As they try breaking up our basalt
Our once-quiet street sounds like a factory
There’s no peace when you’re under assault
There’s no way to fight it, our city must grow
Progress is nothing to hate
We’ll pay twenty grand to get citified
The quiet again will be great
—Eddie Kinnamon
Letter of the Week:
Eddie,
Your frustration is shared
Funneled into verse
We’ve all experienced the boom-shaka-boom
Though it could be much worse
As Letter of the Week
Stop by the Source
For a cuppa Joe on us
With a Palate coffee gift card of course
—Managing Editor Nic Moye
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
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