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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 2015)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 142nd YEAR, No. 152 ONE DOLLAR Astoria sees forest through trees coast weekend Meet the winners INSIDE ‘Sounds like a utopia’ Commission OKs Clatsop Vision 2030 Together By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Trees are shown in a forest near Bear Creek in the Nicolai-Wickiup watershed. Hemlock is the dominant species of tree in the watershed. Trees act as carbon sequesters, take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing the carbon as they grow. City stands to receive new revenue through carbon credit project By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian I n an innovative trade-off, As- toria has agreed not to aggres- sively harvest timber in the Bear Creek watershed over the next decade in return for carbon credits that could help industrial polluters offset carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. The city is partnering with The Climate Trust, a Portland nonprof- it that would purchase the carbon credits. Utilities with fossil-fuel driven power plants pay the trust WR¿QGSURMHFWVWKDWRIIVHWSROOXWLRQ and meet the requirements of Ore- gon’s landmark emission standards law. By committing to a less ag- gressive timber harvest at Bear Creek, Astoria could receive about $358,750 in carbon credits af- ter expenses this year and about $130,000 annually for the next nine \HDUV 7KH ¿UVW \HDU KDV WKH PRVW VLJQL¿FDQWSRWHQWLDOYDOXHEHFDXVH it is based on the city’s existing in- ventory of timber, while the value for the following years is tied to growth. “We commit to harvest less than what we could and we then can mon- etize that,” said Michael Barnes, the city’s consulting forester. Carbon-dioxide emissions are the most prevalent greenhouse gas from human activity and are tied to global warming. The ocean, soil, atmosphere and forests act as car- bon “sinks” that absorb more car- bon than is released, so preserving forests can help store carbon and reduce the amount of carbon diox- ide released into the atmosphere. The Climate Trust was created to help achieve Oregon’s landmark 1997 law that set standards for car- bon-dioxide emissions at power plants. The trust’s projects have The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted the Clatsop Vision 2030 Together, a $30,000 initiative to explore the coun- ty’s long-term goals and aspirations, at its regular meeting Wednesday night. Approval of the initiative comes nearly two years after the commis- VLRQ¿UVWSXUVXHGWKHYLVLRQLQJSURM ect. In that time, the county hired 3RUWODQGEDVHGFRQVXOWLQJ¿UP=HQQ Associates and held multiple com- munity meetings and workshops. The result of compiling the com- munity’s input led to a Clatsop Vi- VLRQ7RJHWKHU¿QDOGUDIWZKLFK offers plans, policies and actions for Clatsop County and other communi- ty organizations in six focus areas: Arts, Culture and History; Health, Safety and Resilience; Environment, Natural Resources and Recreation; Education and Learning; Communi- ty Planning and Development; and Economy and Jobs. See VISION, Page 10A JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Mike Barnes, the city’s consulting forester, stands next to a spruce tree in the Nicolai-Wickiup water- shed Tuesday. ‘We commit to harvest less than what we could and we then can monetize that.’ — Michael Barnes Astoria’s consulting forester led to an estimated 2 million tons of emission reductions, the equiv- alent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 421,000 passenger vehicles. “One of the things that’s appeal- ing about this project is it’s pro- YLGLQJ D ¿QDQFLDO LQFHQWLYH WR GH crease the harvest in an area that’s really providing clean drinking wa- ter to the city of Astoria,” said Mik McKee, The Climate Trust’s senior project analyst for forestry. McKee said there would be “greater attention paid toward conservation, and clean water, and forest health. And that’s a really appealing thing on a local scale, because that’s going to translate for the citizens of Astoria and the peo- ple in the community. “On a larger scale, this is a hard- er concept to explain … but trees sequester carbon. So these trees that aren’t being cut are going to pull carbon dioxide out of the at- mosphere that, theoretically — at the most simple level — (is) being emitted by the Oregon utilities that are essentially paying through The Climate Trust to have these carbon offsets retired.” The Astoria City Council ap- proved the project with The Cli- mate Trust in December. The city already harvests less timber than it could from the 3,700- acre Bear Creek watershed to help protect the drinking water supply. Based on a 3 percent annual growth rate, Barnes said the city could harvest about 3 million board feet a year and not deplete an in- ventory of about 100 million board feet of standing mature timber. See CARBON, Page 10A ‘Fake IRS agents’ scam locals By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group Here’s one more reason to dislike tax season: The Internal Revenue Ser- vice says they’ve seen a recent surge in phone scams involving fake IRS agents. They believe the problem will only intensify as millions of Amer- icans pre- pare their taxes over the coming months. Police say at least one local person has already fallen prey to the scam. According to a press release from the IRS, citizens all over the U.S. have reported aggressive and threat- ening phone calls from scam artists who impersonate IRS or U.S. Trea- sury staff. The scam artists tend to See SCAM, Page 10A Cannon Beach Food Pantry opens in new spot Volunteers slammed with customers from the get-go By ERICK BENGEL EO Media Group CANNON BEACH — Uncertainty hung in the air Wednesday afternoon as Can- non Beach Food Pantry volun- teers awaited their hungry cus- tomers at the pantry’s new site, the westside portable of Can- non Beach Elementary School. What if word of the pan- try’s move hadn’t reached everyone? What if some cus- WRPHUVFRXOGQ¶W¿QGWKHORFD tion? What if families had to go a whole week without full fridges and cupboards just be- cause they missed the memo through no fault of their own? Such questions soon evap- orated. Long before the doors opened at 3 p.m., dozens of customers had already lined up outside, some with young children in tow. Within min- utes, the pantry volunteers in the packing room found them- selves slammed. “We wondered if we would have the people come, and ‘Holy smokes!’” Judy Woody, a volunteer, said. “We haven’t had a day like this in a long time: consistently busy, with large orders, too.” Last weekend, the pantry — which has served people who live and work in Can- non Beach since April 2009 — relocated from the Can- non Beach Bible Church to the elementary school, which closed in June 2013. Almost a year ago, the church, whose congregation has grown sub- stantially in recent years, noti- ¿HGWKHSDQWU\WKDWLWKDGXQWLO Jan. 31, 2015, to set up shop elsewhere. After months of scram- bling for a new space, the Sea- side School District offered to lease the former library por- table to the food pantry, rent- free, last September. The pan- try will have 90 days to vacate if the district chooses to sell the property. See PANTRY, Page 10A ERICK BENGEL —EO Media Group From left, Cannon Beach Food Pantry volunteers Barb Knop, Duncan Fenison, Judy Wood and Judy Mace check customers’ shopping lists and fill out orders in the pack- ing room of the pantry’s new location. The Seaside School District is leasing Cannon Beach Elementary School’s for- mer library portable to the pantry, rent-free.