situ a tio n to the regulars yarning and jaw ing over lunch on Osburn s porch--the usual assemblage, once referred to by the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce as 'those ja y b ird s " A dog had fallen Sunday from the sheer b lu ff north of Indian Beach Its owners had returned to Portland Storm conditions prevailed for four days Now on Friday the 14th, five days later, it was hoped a party could be assembled to re trie ve the animal Hikers claimed to have seen the young Boxer dog scuttle into d r ift logs at the c liff's base Dean Bonde agreed to join us He would bring his son, Gabe, and meet us at Indian Beach Steve McLeod rode by on his bicycle accompanied by the venerable dog George, veteran of many forays over beach and woodlot in Steve s company Steve and I had saved a dog in sim ila r s tra its back in the early Seventies He and George agreed to sign on too Gary Moon's tow truck pulled up across the street Gary spoke to us on the bench ‘ Steve has the day o ff He'll rappel down to the beach w ith the fire department's ropes Can you help him pack the clim bing gear to the c liff'? He II be getting ready at the fire hall * I found Steve Moon at the fire hal, packing ropes, safety harnesses, and signal flares Mike Johnson dropped by to let us know he'd also fo llo w us to the site and lend a hand At I 30 pm we converged at the Indian Beach parking lot Mike Covert hailed us as we approached the beach s north trailhead He agreed to paddle his surfboard around the headland north of Indian Beach and reconnoiter the beach and driftw ood Steve McLeod, Dean, Gabe, and I shouldered the rope gear and humped briskly north on the Tillamook Head Trail We scrabbled up the afternoon tra il, sw itching back and fo rth through old growth columns of hemlock and spruce, an odd motley w ith tim e available for a lost dog an a rtis t, a jew eler, a student, a mechanic, and a carpenter We would be joined anon by a surfer, a gardener, and the Cannon Beach Chief of Police At the f ir s t overlook, some 500 or 600 feet above the beach. Dean and Steve Moon scrutinized the small shingle of beach below No dog Dean tested the a ir w ith several w histles and "w oofs' muted by surf chattering against rocks A fte r consultation, we decided to follow the tra il an additional m ile north, then drop down through a ravine and watercourse to a rock outcropping 300 feet above the beach Steve McLeod lent his considerable local tra il and beach savvy based on numerous combing sorties of the beach and headland terrain At his direction, we dropped down a long muddy defile of bracken, salal. and rotten stumpage George the dog growled an occasional note of encouragement and hope Steve Moon and I shared some misgivings Perhaps our Boxer dog had not survived the 600 foot fa ll or had succumbed to exposure Far below us a fleck appeared in the sea - - Mike Covert rounding the tip of Indian Beach s north point on his surfboard The radio I earned in my pack crackled to te ll us Police Chief Dave Rouse approached our location He checked to confirm our position Mike Covert beached his surfboard below us and scoured the beach Wttutntb&t R O M north and south No dog ‘ Check the driftw ood piles'" Dean yelled down to him Fifteen minutes later Covert appeared cradling the young dog in his arms far below He scaled the scree below us to w ith in a few hundred feet of our position clutching the dog In 1989 his dog had vanished on Tillamook Head forever i reflected on the irony of circumstance Dave Rouse and Steve unfurled the clim bing ropes to meet him Dean and Steve McLeod helped transfer the dog to a place of safe purchase Bernice, female Boxer, age 18 months, returned w ith the rest of us to the parking lot at Indian Beach on her own feet, bruised and scratched, but indefatigable For five days she had huddled in d r ift logs w ith no food or water, follow ing a 600 foot tumble to the beach Three days of north coast storms preceded her rescue Our group approached the road home as the light waned AH of us saluted Bernice and her strength George barked approval I took quiet pleasure in knowing I lived in a place where eight people devoted a Friday afternoon to saving a dog s life I commend them in a world fraught w ith heartlessness and disdain, I am often proud of my town gunset J the day. and coffee, lea. or decaf. ' infirm *! tu»u ‘■ W u y ju r e r - Q c e a n j r o n t < £ ) ln ln 0 f 1 V illa g e A liv e The demise of r u r a l com m unities and the degradat ion of the environm ent are beginning to galvanize concerned citize n s a ll over the w o rld In 1993 thousands of fa rm e rs in India and in France demonstrated against the new internation al trade pact known as QATT. because it elim inates a g ric u ltu ra l subsidies to sm all farm ers adversely affecting th e ir healthy r u r a l com m unities In the post few weeks, peasants in Mexico have organized in Chiapas against the government over th e ir sm all farm s w hich they fear w ill be taken over by internation al agribusiness interests Peasants and fa rm e rs tn the T h ird w o r ld are 11 ter el ly fig h tin g for th e ir v e ry s u rv iv a l - the rig h t to grow their own food Although the issues we are concerned w ith along the Oregon Coast are not immediate life and death issues as they are in the T hird W orld, they are a microcosm of the c u rre n t paradigm of greed and exp lo ita tio n of our natural resources throughout the w orld P riv a te p ro p e rty interests, coupled w ith unsustainable development, at the expense of nature and com m unities, are the root cause of environm ental degr adat ion and poverty P riv a te p ro p e rty rig h ts advocates, such as O v e rb o rn fo re s t In d u s trie s , ore against ihe F o rt Clatsop expansion The company fears that if the government is succesful in purchasing land from p r ivate owners, even if it is fo r the good of the com m unity, the purchase may set a precedent The rental issue in Manzanita is the same th o rn y problem The a b ility of p ro p e rty owners to re n t th e ir p ro p e rty s h o rt-te rm is being challenged by those who believe that th is erodes the ve ry nature of the com m unity and prevents local residents fro m finding affordable housing Short term re n ta l advocates believe that th e ir p riv a te p ro p e rty rig h ts should be held sacrosanct If we look at the re v ita liz a tio n of r u r a l com m unities in Finland it may serve as a model fo r those of us liv in g in r u r a l Oregon This success s to ry w ill not sway the Cavenham C orporation, but may 9erve to inform and educate those who may be conflicted about the rig h ts of the individual versus the in te g rity of our land and natural resources - our common heritage D u rin g the 196 O'sand the e a rly 7 0 's, Finland experienced r u r a l depopulation 19 7 6 a U n iv e rs ity p ro fe sso r, la u r i In Hautamak i , started to w ork w ith m unicipal ll<>0‘ P a d f k q > . C annon a u th o ritie s and fiv e other U n iv e rs itie s to evaluate the potential fo r re v ita liz a tio n of r u r a l com m unities Professor Hautamak i w rote a book called "A L iv in g Village which was a guide to villa g e action w hich sold thousands of copies He then started a series of tra in in g radio broadcasts w hich had 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 liste n e rs By 1 9 9 2 , three thousand Village Committees bad been tor med covering more than tw o -th ird s of Finland's villa g e rs The villa g e * in itia te d projects m a in ly in the areas of c u ltu re , to u rism , com m unications, services, housing and economic development Because of th e ir intim ate k nowledge of local resources, the Committees became im portant new channels fo r pu b lic investm ent, p o sitive ly affecting the lives of over 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 people These Village Committees are an expression of smal I - scale col lec, t ve act ions over individualism Communal fa c ilitie s are emphasized or restored, such as ’ The School as the Center of Village L ife Public and social services such as health and transportation services were also in itia te d A Finnish professor w rote in 19 8 6 th a t, "Although villa g e a c tiv ity has achieved much that is of po sitive value, its im portance lies much daeper In the long ru n its greatest importance Is in the change in people s attitudes Such a change in attitude would never have come about s im p ly by pro vid in g in form ation and tra in in g or by increasing government aid" The pressure for change in the r u r e l com m unities of Finland came about because of increasing in s e c u rity in a ll walks of life , and because of the d im in is h in g fa ith in continued economic grow th Planning was changed from being dominated by the experts, to a new approach w hich stresses the value of the individual 456-1108 The Vi I lage Committees a c tiv itie s include a rts and c ra fts F u rn itu re -m a k in g , herb production, p rin tin g , photography and video production are done locally using resources and talents in the com m unity Farm ing extension classes are also re v iv in g especially in the fie ld of organic agr ic u ltu re Some villages are introducing telecottages p roviding inform ation technology to enhance villa g e communications and strengthen the local economic base The Committees p r inçipql strength is th e ir H»gwigdge,Qi and loyg j y . t hg ir y i i i « e ang i t s n fliy rflI,enY!,r.Qp,fpjQl. Each year a National Village Action Festival brings about 1 ,0 0 0 a c tiv is ts together around a chosen theme ana chooses a villa g e of the rear The ,9 9 2 theme for villa g e a c tiv itie s was "The Village and International Relations" In 19 9 2 a National Council of Village Committees was established to provide a national base for the increased determ ination among r u r a l people to preserve the q u a lity and var lety of th e ir lives agamsl the continuing trends of urbanization and loss of r u r a l local control and s e lf-re lia n c e This movement is of immense significance because it shows how people in r u r a l areas can reverse r u r a l decline and regain control over th e ir lives The im plications are enormous fo r other in d u s tria l countries as w e ll as the T hird W orld I, m ight even in s p ire us in Oregon to re v ita liz e our own r u r a l com m unities I don't th in k we can oount on our government to help us in any significant way I, we are going to successfully protect and im prove our com m unities we must begin to take charge of our own destiny M ichelle Syver son Execultve D ire cto r Environm ental News Network Manzanita. Oregon The Environm ental News Network is a n o n -p ro fit clear inghouse of environm ental news stor tes