From the Lower Left Corner
Gcppctto’s
(of Washington State)
' ' Toy She PP
by V ictona Stoppiello
N. Hemlock • Cannon Beach, OR
(503) 436-2467
In his book The River Why, David James Duncan
revisits the stream o f his youth and ascends its
downstream course to the headwaters. Like a poisoned
angle worm, the scourged little creek creeps sluggishly
through industrial parks and shopping centers, a
repository for bottles, cans, grass clippings, and urban
detritus of every shape and description The headwaters
disappear beneath the foundation o f a Benjamin Franklin
Savings and Loan building in a shopping mall. Duncan
leaves, lus memories brutalized by liarsh contemporary
facts.
T ic stream wliich flowed through my childhaod has
fared somewhat better. Elk Creek (Ecola Creek) still
slips briskly by stands o f mature red alder, its clay and
gravel bed cuts through moss and fem-rich banks where
aged cedars, sitka spruce, and hemlocks shade pools and
riffles.
Granted, gyppo logging shows, the Van Vleet Co.,
Crown Zellerbach, Cavenham Corporation, shake bolt
cutters, and others have slashed, dragged, sliced, gouged,
and mutilated the fine stands of succesion forest. This
year the sawing and removal has begun again in earnest,
but tic forty-odd years o f industrial harvest rotation have
left some stream cover and riparian integrity .
The potential listing of the coho salmon as an
endangered species has focused keen attention on coastal
streams. Governor Kitzhaber and the current legislature
have approved a Coastal Salmon Recovery Initiative
(C.S.R.I.), which will attempt to monitor the condition of
dwindling salmon stocks and strive to improve liabitat
and fish numbers. Co-incident with the creation o f the
CSRI Initiative lias been the establishment o f watershed
councils in communities along the coast. Our own Ecola
Creek Awareness Project is one such council activity.
Composed of what Jerome Arnold, a Cannon Beach
member, describes as "stakeholders," this advisory group
will play a significant role in assessing stream health,
and the concomitant status o f potential coho stock
recovery. The membership includes representatives from
the Oregon Department o f Fish and Wildlife, the City o f
Cannon Beach,* landowners, timber companies, and
interested parties.
"It's a co-operative effort," Jerome has told me. "We
are concerned with Elk Creek’s habitat and condition
throughout the creeks system, from ridgetop to ridgetop.
We are looking at the whole system, and the assessment
is not specie specific. We’re looking at the coho and
steelhead stocks, invertebrates and other creatures and
vegetation, right down to the mico-organisms."
Volunteers have been playing a major part in local
stream analysis. Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife
had no funding available for wild steelhead nest surveys
this spring. Three local citizens, Jerome A rnold, Chris
McGowan, and Ron Logan counted these steelhead
nests, called "redds," from Match to May this year.
Fish biologist Walt Weber o f O.D.F.W. joined them on
these outings providing training and expertise necessary
in gathering workable data The count occurred on a two-
mile stretch o f the North Fork o f Elk Creek in an area
closed to angling. Weber's critique of the stream’s health
was "very good." He indicated that the stream might be
used as a coastal model for stream
restoration in the years to come.
During the spring count the particpants noted
considerable numbers of small coho fry trapped in what
Walt Weber termed "stranding pools." In these small
eddies and pools at the margin o f the stream numerous
young fish stage and prepare for their trip to sea away
from the swift current. From past data, Weber said they
stand a 20% better chance o f surviving than those fry
that don't spend their early lives there. The hitch is that
these one- to four- inch fish grow very rapidly during the
early summer, just as the stream level drops and the
pools dry up, leaving these young stranded. Jerome,
Chris McGowan, and Ron Logan have spent many hours
this year netting and replacing trapped fry under the
direction o f Walt Weber.
The health o f Elk Creek is our mutual concern as
citizens of Cannon Beach. In September or early
October, Dr. Carr from the University o f Washington
will be in Cannon Beach to present a lecture and training
session focusing on biological diversity in stream beds
and indices o f stream well-being I hope a great number
o f our residents will attend and participate at some level.
\
“Where quality and tradition make kids happy"
Summer Fun *97
At The Beech
■ Sand mills, molds,
buckets & shovels.
■ Catch & throw toys.
■ Bubble Toys: fl great
beach activity and lots
of fun to share.
■ Boats: from Bosun to
tub toys - something
for all ages.
■ Things That Fly: fly &
toss toys.
We also carry travel toys, games, & books!
_____
'H o m e o f th e W ild O y s te r “
n i t W illa p a Hay
N a lic o tta , W ashington 98G37
For R ospi v a lio n s or Infonnation
(360) 665-4543 - Fax (.360) <.65-61187
BANK OF
ASTORIA
Member FDIC
Astoria Warrenton
Seaside Cannon Beach
“Another Great Chef from the
Tabard coming for August
through Labor Day.”
By reservations only.
P.O. Box 95 • Nahcotta, WA 98637
^ U N O M &R.WC.HES
I).0C A "1~2 50 m
Best view on the Peninsula! O verlook W illapa Bay
and enjoy delicious N orthw est specialties,
hom em ade breads and desserts. Bakery and gift
shop. Featured in F o o d and Wine, N ew sw eek and
three cookbooks. Fam ilies welcom e and casual
relaxed atm osphere. At the Nachotta Dock,
N achotta, W A. 360-665-4133 reservations
recom m ended.
HAYSTACK VIDEO
• R entals
. V C R ’s
• Gam es
• Sales
• M usic
. Snacks
( 5 0 3 )4 3 6 -0 4 3 6
P.O. Box 1266 • Cannon Beach. OR 97110
1235 S Hemlock • Midtown at Haystack Square
ïXe
>
IN AN UNJUST WORLD...JUSTICE.
Personal Injury Lawyer
The last time I stayed overnight at the M oby Dick
Hotel would have been at this time o f year forty
years ago, when I cam e with my m other to go clam
digging. Perhaps that’s why I w ent to sleep so
im m ediately and so soundly, not waking once, with
no apparent dream s. Perhaps I put my scent on the
place and a part of my subconscious that records and
interprets everything olfactory tells me it’s okay here.
M aybe it w as being in my friends’ house, even
thougii it is really a hotel.
From forty years ago I have only two distinct
memories: the raccoon that lived on a long chain
under a big spruce behind the hotel, and the breakfast
scene. T he dining room was packed with people,
warm and a bit hum id, colorful in a way that little
girls and I to this day still like.
Not frilly, but little touches that say pretty is also
part of a meal. Food was served fam ily style. You
shared a table with other guests. Platters of eggs,
breakfast m eats and pancakes kept coming. But the
one touch that has becom e my own habit was that the
syrup and butter were warm ed and cam e to the table
in little pitchers, a detail that kept your pancakes hot.
As a ten year old, I felt this was elegant treatment.
It is razor clam season right now —spring’s
exceptionally low tides. I’m alone in the dining
room , footsteps m oving upstairs, but no one in the
public rooms. Rain sheets dow n outside. W eather
that would cause clam diggers to gnash their teeth, at
least us neo p h y tes-rain d ro p s on the sand look too
sim ilar to clam holes.
The sprayers are gnashing their teeth this
m orning as well. This particular run of low tides
was supposed to provide an opportunity to test a new
pesticide for ghost shrimp. T he weather is against
them. A dow npour probably isn’t a good testing
condition, nor is wind higher than ten miles an hour.
T hey’re probably gnashing their teeth for another
reason. T heir project leader, Alan, in giving notice
to adjacent property owners, coincidentally ran head
on into the ow ners of M oby Dick—and perhaps more
importantly, into a small but com m itted group of
their supporters. Truly an accident that we were all
there, but an extra ten people o f diverse backgrounds
and interests probably made a difference in A lan’s
thinking.
Luckily he had the authority to cancel the
spraying o ff M oby D ick’s shores, at some risk to
himself. T he project is part o f research work he is
doing in hopes o f attaining tenure at Washing State
U niversity. Plus the irritation of those of us who
feel it’s okay to put one more chemical in Willapa
Bay.
The irony is that Alan needs a spot with few
chem icals on it in order to conduct an accurate test.
He seem s to sincerely believe the chemical he wants
to test will m ake things b e tte r-it’s less toxic and less
persistent than the Carbaryl and Sevin the oyster
grow ers use now , som etim es with perm its,
som etim es not. H e’s probably right, but in the
im m ediate situation, he would have made things
w orse for this little plot of ground, this strip of
m udflats w here Fritzi and Edward are attempting to
grow their oysters as free o f chem icals as possible.
I sym pathize with A la n -h e ran right into a buzz
saw. Ignorant o f the politics surrounding pesticides
in this area, he showed up and there we were. He
was doing a routine part of his jo b , no longer
routine. Faced with needling, debate, and a
challenge to act on different principles, he
acknow ledged the different value system s present.
He realized Fritzi and Edward w eren’t totally alone,
and he had it pointed out that he was “set up”—
perhaps unintentionally.
A lan’s field contacts knew the test plot was
adjacent to M oby D ick’s oyster beds. They told him
the sentim ents o f the Moby D ick’s people, but only
vaguely. H ard to say what this meant. Som etim es I
see conspiracy w here there is only stupidity.
Som etim es I see malice where there is only
indifference.
In any case, what I did see yesterday was people
in dialog, strong feelings expressed, and Alan
m aking an assessm ent of his options, exploring the
grey area betw een “just doing his jo b ” and “doing the
right thing.” He relented and m oved the test site. I
appreciated his honesty about his dilem m a, his
intellectual honesty about not being able to promise
that his chem ical was 100% safe. M ost of all, I
appreciated his courage to stay and talk, when he
was outnum bered. Most of us w ould have retreated
behind a wall of arrogance o r invective, and he did
neither.
GREGORY KAFOURY
202 Oregon Pioneer Building
320 S.W. Stark Sireel
Portland. OR 97204
Phone:
(503) 224-2647
M a n za n ita
N ew s <St
ESPRESSO
Starbucks Coffee & Espresso Drinks
Homemade Pastries, Sandwiches and Soup
Magazines, Local News, Maps and Calendars
Open Daily 7:30 A.M .-5:00 P.M.
500 Laneda Ave.
Manzanita
368-7450
This month our quotes are from Murphy’s I^ w Book
Two by Arthur Bloch
M u rp h y’s Law ; “ If anything can go wrong, it w ill."
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