Hunt is over, now students need someone to scale 70-foot tree

So close, and yet so far. The great balloon quest continues for Oregon State University’s nuclear engineering and radiation health physics department.

A weather balloon launched Friday from Florence landed on private property between Falls City and Dallas. Students and faculty advisers were able to track the balloon within a mile, but had to turn back because of darkness, and because students needed to head home for winter break.

The balloon is equipped with electronic dog and bird trackers, as well as devices students created to measure atmospheric radiation for a class project.

An Oregon Space Grant recovery team went out Tuesday and found the balloon about 70 feet off the ground in a Douglas fir tree.

OSU hopes to partner with Philomath High School, and ask its forestry club to scale the tree and retrieve the balloon.

The latest recovery effort is planned for Sunday, if weather permits.