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