JANUARY 16, 2015 • VOL. 39, ISSUE 2
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Police department tries
out a new K-9 offi cer
‘Gunner’ is
proving more
capable than
his predecessor,
known as ‘Cash’
who started working with
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Though he has yet to
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By Erick Bengel
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Cannon Beach Gazette
Gregory said.
Because some states
The Cannon Beach Po- KDYH OHJDOL]HG UHFUHDWLRQ
lice Department’s second DO PDULMXDQD DQG FLWL]HQV
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Schermerhorn said.
Once Gunner has com-
pleted his narcotics train-
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and-rescue training with
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making him a “dual-pur-
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He will be the only nar-
cotics dog at a Clatsop
County law enforcement
agency since the county
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cotics dog early last year
See K-9, Page 11A
“Gunner,” a nar-
cotics and search-
and-rescue K-9
officer-in-training,
makes himself com-
fortable in the Can-
non Beach Police
Department with
his handler, Officer
Josh Gregory. Gun-
ner’s predecessor,
Cash, a 2-year-old
Belgian Malinois,
didn’t complete
the training.
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
BACK to the BEGINNING
PHOTO COURTESY OF HAYSTACK ROCK AWARENESS PROGRAM
Th e white goo on the severed end of a dead sea star’s limbs
told HRAP Coordinator Samantha Ferber that the limb
loss was the result of the wasting disease, not predation.
Sea stars making
a comeback aft er
deadly epidemic
‘Densovirus’ may be responsible
for sea star wasting disease
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
The worst of the sea star
wasting disease epidemic
that decimated sea star popu-
lations along the West Coast
during the past 19 months ap-
pears to be over at Haystack
Rock — at least for now.
Most of what’s left are the
juvenile sea stars that some-
how survived the patho-
genic onslaught that killed
off more than 90 percent of
their fellows during the 2014
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Haystack Rock Awareness
Coordinator Samantha Fer-
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toll at three sites.
“Now that we’re past the
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may be because the sea stars
that did show the most se-
vere symptoms have all died
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A fall survey that Ferber
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Public works employees Kirk Anderson, left , and Paul Phillips, right, place the NeCus’ Park sign atop its base near
Fir Street. Dick Basch, center background, vice chairman of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, enjoys the
moment, along with Diane Collier, the tribe chairwoman; Jan Siebert-Wahrmund, a Cannon Beach resident; and
Robin Risley, a member of the city’s Parks and Community Services Committee.
conducted with HRAP volun-
teers at and around Haystack
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smaller sea stars tended to fare
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By Erick Bengel
• Of nine recorded ochre
non Beach. The city hopes to purchase D PRQWK WR FRPSOHWH WKH VLJQDJH
Cannon Beach Gazette
sea stars on Haystack Rock’s
the south portion of the site from the SURMHFWZKLFKLQYROYHGWKHSDUNVDQG
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VFKRROGLVWULFWDQGRQHGD\WUDQVIRUP community services committee and
he newly minted NeCus’ Park the full property into a Clatsop-Ne- WKHGHVLJQUHYLHZERDUGEHJDQDWWKH
showed wasting signs had a
sign that the public works de- halem interpretive center.
radius (measured from the
end of last June. Walsh collaborated
partment set up at the edge
middle of their body to the tip
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of Fir Street the morning of Dec. 31 PDNLQJGRZLWKDSXEOLFSDUNZKLFK ZLWK SXEOLF ZRUNV DQG 'LFN %DVFK
of their longest limb) larger
means much and more to the Clat- QRZKDVLWVRZQVLJQWKDW'LFN%DVFK who sent her photos for inspiration.
than 40 millimeters.
sop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes.
• Of 21 recorded ochre
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Resembling a traditional Clat- called a “showpiece.”
sea stars on the east boulder
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“It’s just wonderful. It’s really ex- RI¿FHPDQDJHU
its prow pointed resolutely toward the FLWLQJ´VDLG'LDQH&ROOLHUFKDLUZRP
wasting signs; the three sea
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stars with a radius smaller
brates the indigenous village named crew secured the sign to its base before who supervised the installation.
than 40 millimeters showed
“NeCus’” that once prospered in the DFURZGRIDERXWDGR]HQORFDOV
no signs. (While these num-
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bers demonstrate that not
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‘Only the beginning’
tribal members.
all larger sea stars became
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to the claim that the smaller
Ecola Creek at the Cannon Beach Ele- QLWD6LJQ&RPSDQ\WKHVLJQLVPHDQW the ancestors who lived at the site
ones tended not to become
mentary School site — roughly trans- to bring the Clatsop-Nehalem “brand” ORQJDJRDQGRIFRXUVHWKHVLWHLW
infected.)
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• Of 24 recorded ochre sea
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Walsh carved the letters herself in what it may become.
out.”
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The park covers the city-owned her studio with a chisel and mallet.
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north portion of the school site. When Both the 10-foot-long sign and its base she said. The formal christening of the
wasting signs were larger
the Seaside School District closed the were milled from a cedar log from Til- VLWHVKHDGGHGUHSUHVHQWVD¿UVWVWHS
than 40 millimeters.
VFKRRO LQ -XQH WKH SDUFHO EH lamook.
Though Ferber and her
toward restoring the Clatsop-Nehalem
Though the physical labor involved presence in Cannon Beach. “This is
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team looked at all of the sea
which then gave it to the city of Can- in shaping the wood took Walsh about only the beginning.”
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ochres and six-rayed sea stars.
Since the disease hit the rock
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a species that used to be seen
in the tide pools during lower
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sion meeting Jan. 22.
entire north end of Cannon \HDUVP\YLHZKDVGZLQGOHG
which rates the disease sta- Proposed
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The
Breakers
Point Beach?”
tus of individual specimens
Homeowners Association is
After roughly two and a )UDQ&DUH\ZKRKDVOLYHGDW
(with “1” meaning mild and project would
applying for a conditional use half hours of public testimo- Breakers Point for more than
“4” meaning severe). Fer-
permit that would allow fore- Q\ LQ 'HFHPEHU ZKHQ WKH \HDUV³7KHVDQGLVVRKLJK
ber sends the results of these move almost
dune grading west and south City Council chambers over- I am unable to have access to
quarterly surveys to MARINe 74,000 cubic
of its condominium develop- ÀRZHGZLWKWKRVHZLVKLQJWR WKH EHDFK DQG GXULQJ DQ\
(Multi-Agency Rocky Inter-
ment. The dunes are 46 feet VSHDNRQWKHLVVXHWKHSODQ storm I have blowing sand on
WLGDO 1HWZRUN D FRQVRUWLXP yards of sand
KLJKLQVRPHDUHDVEORFNLQJ ning commission voted to my windows and my patio.”
of universities and govern-
onto beach
The dune grading project
the homeowners’ oceanfront continue the public hearing to
ment agencies that monitors
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views and spreading sand its next meeting.
the ecology of rocky intertidal
By Erick Bengel
cubic yards of windblown
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areas along the West Coast.
Cannon Beach Gazette
sand trapped by European
%UXFH )UDQFLV WKH SURSHUW\ Those in favor
‘Falling apart’
Breakers Point homeown- beachgrass and depositing
manager. “You have to physi-
Before the wasting disease
More discussion on a FDOO\VKRYHOLWDZD\´KHVDLG ers discussed their reasons for the majority of it in the inter-
arrived in Cannon Beach last proposal to grade the sand
WLGDO]RQHWKHUHVWZRXOGJR
%XW RSSRQHQWV LQFOXGLQJ wanting the dunes graded.
VSULQJ LW KDG DOUHDG\ ZLSHG dunes at Breakers Point is north end resident Lisa Fras-
³:KHQ,¿UVWPRYHGKHUH into the Ecola Creek Estuary.
planned during the Cannon HUDUHDVNLQJ³,VLWZRUWKWKH I could see Haystack Rock
See Wasting, Page 11A Beach Planning Commis- views of a few to reshape the from my window. Over the
See Dunes, Page 11A
City hopes to turn NeCus’ park site into cultural center
T
Breakers Point dune grading
proposal attracts overfl ow crowd