SISTERS, OR -- Drivers may face delays west of Sisters next week, as Oregon Department of Transportation crews work to remove dead trees from along Highway 20. "Anytime you have a dead tree that’s close to a highway, there’s a risk that tree could fall on the road, potentially cause an accident, or fall on to a vehicle," ODOT’s Kacey Davey tells KBND News.

She says these are not connected to the large-scale die-off of Ponderosa pines in 2018 caused by an herbicide, "All of those trees have been removed a few years ago. And now, this is a separate project with about 100 trees that are spread out over 20 miles or so." Davey adds, "These are dead trees and we don’t know the reason they have died. There are a number of factors that trees die from - drought or stress or beetle kill."