S. Deschutes County health care, Parks & Rec, wildfire risk among issues discussed at Newberry Regional Summit
(Update: Adding video, comments from summit participants, consultants)
SUNRIVER, Ore. (KTVZ) — Southern Deschutes County community members, nonprofits and government agencies met Thursday in Sunriver for the Newberry Regional Partnership's Action Summit to discuss strategies and solutions to issues in an area they say is much different than most of the county.
"It is a turning point, because no one can do this on their own," said Kathy DeBone, community coordinator with the partnership. "No one agency, no one government jurisdiction, no one nonprofit. We've all got to work together to make this happen."
Stretching from Sunriver and the Three Rivers neighborhood down through La Pine to northern Klamath County, organizers say the Newberry Region is one of the most diverse yet forgotten areas of the county.
Consultant Steven Ames helped organize the summit: "You have three very different kinds of communities sort of coexisting within this larger geographical area, and it's different from the rest of Deschutes County in that regard and presents unique challenges. "
Over the course of nearly two years, the Newberry Regional Partnership and DeBone surveyed the community on top issues.
"The amazing thing to me is that the same top issues kept coming up over and over and over again," DeBone said.
Those top issues include wildfire risk, which Deschutes County sheriff's deputies discussed with summit participants, They broke into small groups to discuss that and other challenges.
One summit attendee said, "We found a chunk of land and used it as an experiment and found geographically that it had a wildfire risk, but it was manageable because of the size of camps."
The recent troubles of the La Pine Parks and Recreation District after also on the table after the board resigned and workers were laid off. County commissioners recently appointed new board members.
A summit participant said, "I know the money is tight, so let's go to the volunteers, which the client has tons of people who want to be involved in volunteering. But everyone's a little hesitant right now to be like, 'Do we want our names on what's going on with all that?'"
Health services were another major topic. As one summit attendee stated, "People do not understand addiction, and they do not understand that when that person is out there living in those woods and just wrecking everything. They are not who they are. "
One strategy already has been implemented by the sheriff's office, regional partnership and BLM. Inmate work crews have cleaned up abandoned homeless encampments in rural La Pine to reduce wildfire risk, following the Darlene 3 Fire.
Ames says that despite the issues and challenges being discussed this day, the future is bright for the region: "It's just great to see people from different backgrounds and different perspectives working together to come up with common solutions."
