Man Building Habitat For Wildlife Dies

A man who was creating wildlife trees for the U.S. Forest Service has been found dead after he apparently fell from a tree in the Applegate area.

Anthony Joseph Mistretta, 46, of Seal Rock, was found dead Sunday by a co-worker in a canyon near Beaver Creek Road, Jackson County sheriff’s deputies said.

Mistretta worked under contract to the Forest Service creating nesting trees for birds. He was a member of a team that climbed the trees, drilled holes in the trunks for a stick of dynamite, then exploded the dynamite to knock the top out of the tree.