(Sisters Trail Alliance supervised workday with Sisters High School | Photo courtesy of Sisters Trail Alliance)
On Friday, the Deschutes National Forest will host a short ceremony honoring the members of the Sisters Trail Alliance who won this year’s National Wild and Scenic Award for Outstanding Wild and Scenic River Stewardship. The award is one of four national awards for Wild and Scenic River Management.
The award ceremony will be held at 3pm on Friday, December 17, beginning at the trailhead for the Whychus Scenic Overlook and ending at the overlook. The trail is fully accessible. The Whychus Scenic Overlook trailhead is located 5 miles south of Sisters on Forest Service Road 16 (Three Creeks Road).
The Sisters Trail Alliance won the award for several of their efforts in restoring Whychus Creek.
The nomination prepared by the Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest stated:
“The Sisters Trails Alliance (STA)… help(ed) by accepting the grant funding for needed tasks to complete approved facilities and restoration. These included: a one-mile barrier free loop, overlook platform, restroom, three-mile river trail, one-mile draw connector trail and a roads-to-trails mountain-bike trail.
STA developed a stewardship program, supporting implementation and ongoing maintenance of the management plan by routinely educating other trail users about Wild and Scenic River values, helping to rehabilitate social trails and non-designated dispersed campsites, monitoring successes and infractions throughout the implementation of the management plan. Their valuable assistance in the management of the Whychus Wild and Scenic river corridor cannot be overstated.”
“We are so grateful for the work done in partnership with the Sisters Trail Alliance to restore and maintain the health and beauty of Whychus Creek and we are so glad that they have been honored with this significant national award for their stewardship,” said Holly Jewkes, Deschutes National Forest supervisor.
For more information about the awards ceremony or the award itself, please contact Sara Baughman, Recreation Team lead for the Sisters Ranger District, at sara.baughman@usda.gov or at 541-419-3132.
