Daily ranger talks offered at Mt. Bachelor

Discover Your Forest, the Deschutes National Forest’s non-profit partner, wants to remind the public that they are invited to enjoy Volunteer Ranger patio talks every day at Mt. Bachelor through early September.

The talks began in July and will continue until September 3.

Volunteer Ranger Patio talks are given seven days a week, at 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Pine Marten Lodge. Visitors must purchase a lift ticket to get to Pine Marten Lodge and the talks are usually 20-30 minutes. No reservations are required.

Information about the purchase of the lift ticket can be found at Mt. Bachelor’s website: https://www.mtbachelor.com/

Also, Beginning Thursday, July 6 , the Deschutes National Forest’s Cascade Lakes Welcome Station will be hosting an eight week speaker series, “PONDERosa: Nature Talks in the Trees” at 10 a.m. every Thursday through August 24 .

Each week a different Deschutes National Forest specialist will give a 30 minute talk about a different aspect of Central Oregon’s unique landscape. Talks will be held on the Welcome Station’s patio and may include short hikes into the nearby forest to examine specimens. The PONDERosa talks are free and audiences of all ages are welcome to attend.

The following talks are scheduled for the PONDERosa series:

July 6, “Volcanoes of the Cascade Lakes Highway,” Deschutes & Ochoco National Forest Geologist July 13, “Making Your Home Defensible in a Fire-Adapted Ecosystem,” Central Oregon Fire Management Service Fire Prevention, Education & Mitigation Technician July 20, “Hydrology and Fisheries of the Upper Deschutes River Basin,” Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District Fish Biologist and Hydrologist July 27, “What Am I Walking On?: Soil Diversity Across the Deschutes National Forest,” Bend-Fort Rock & Crescent Ranger Districts Soil Scientist August 3, “Fire in the Central Oregon Landscape,” Central Oregon Fire Management Service Fire Ecologist August 10, “What’s Bugging Our Forest: An Introduction to Insects in Central Oregon,” Deschutes National Forest Etymologist August 17, “What is White-Nose Syndrome?: Protecting Central Oregon’s Bats,” Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District Wildlife Biologists August 24, “Archeology on the Deschutes National Forest,” Deschutes National Forest Archeologist

The Cascade Lakes Welcome Station is located west of Bend just past mile marker eight on the Cascade Lakes Highway (Forest Road 46) at 18390 Century Drive west of Bend..

For more information, please contact Jaimie Olle, Cascade Lakes Welcome Station lead ranger: jaimiemolle@fs.fed.us or (541)383-5453 .