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
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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
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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-
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ect. In that time, the county hired
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Associates and held multiple com-
munity meetings and workshops.
The result of compiling the com-
munity’s input led to a Clatsop Vi-
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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-
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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-
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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-
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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.