Camp Polk Meadow Preserve is a 145-acre nature reserve about five kilometres north of Sisters along Whychus Creek, managed by the Deschutes Land Trust. It was the site of a short-lived U.S. Army camp during the Indian Wars of the 1860s and was later a working ranch. The Land Trust now manages it as a wildlife area with restored riparian meadows, oxbows along the creek, and walking trails.
The pioneer cemetery just north of the preserve is the oldest in Deschutes County. The preserve is open year-round for self-guided walks; a short interpretive loop covers the historic camp site and the ecological restoration work. Beavers have returned to Whychus Creek and you can see their dams and chewed cottonwoods along the trail. Mosquito repellent helps in summer.