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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 Cormorants: The plan will be up for public review Continued from Page 1A “These birds are not do- ing well throughout their range with the exception being East Sand Island, Sallinger said. Much public interest The Corps received more than 152,000 comments on its draft management plan last summer. Many were against the Corps’ preferred option to kill the birds and instead favored the other, nonlethal options the Corps listed. However, the Corps and oth- ers believe that killing the birds is the best way to keep the colo- ny’s population at a manageable level and protect endangered or threatened salmon and steelhead at the mouth of the Columbia River. By some estimates, the colony consumes an average of nearly 11 million juvenile sal- monids each year. Paul Lumely, executive di- rector for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, PUBLIC REVIEW Written comments can be emailed to cormorant-eis@usace.army.mil or mailed to: Robert Winters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers District, Portland Attn: CENWP-PM-E-14-08/Double-crested Cormorant Final EIS P.O. Box 2946 Portland, OR 97208-2946 called it a necessary manage- ment decision. However, he said in a state- ment Feb. 6, “It may not be enough to reduce the staggering ¿VK ORVVHV )URP exploding double-crested cor- morant populations nesting on the man-made East Sand Island have consumed at least 74 mil- lion juvenile salmonids in the lower Columbia River. These losses equate to 740,000 return- ing adult salmon and steelhead. After more than a decade of research, we can no longer af- ford to study cormorant impacts without addressing their threats to salmon recovery.” Control options According to the Final En- vironmental Impact Statement, the Corps’ contractors will shoot individual birds on the is- ODQGRUDVWKH\À\RYHUWKHZD ter as well as oil eggs in nests to prevent them from hatching. The Corps will also use non- lethal methods such as hazing. Under the biological opinion for the Columbia River hydro- power system, the Corps has until 2018 to reduce the size of the colony. The cormorants are protect- ed under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are a natural part of the Columbia River Estuary’s Daily Astorian File The Army Corps of Engineers proposes to kill half the double-crested cormorants nesting on Sand Island near the mouth of the Columbia River because the birds eat too many young salmon and steehead. ecosystem. The Corps will need to get several permits in place before it can legally kill, or “take,” the birds. The permits will also likely allow for “incidental take” of other species, such as Brandt’s cormorants which also nest on the island and can easily be mis- taken for double-crested cormo- rants especially when they are in the air, in motion. Researchers on the island told The Chinook Observer even they’ve mis- takenly shot the wrong species when they’ve killed birds for research purposes. East Sand Island — a 62- acre island easily visible from Chinook — is home to other problematic birds as well: one of the largest colonies of Caspi- an terns on the West Coast. The &RUSV¿UVWEURXJKWWKHVHELUGVWR East Sand Island in the 1980s af- ter determining they were eating too many juvenile salmon 16 miles upriver at Rice Island, an island the Corps had made from dredge spoils. Since then, both colo- nies, tern and cormorant, have swelled. While a management plan has been in place for the terns, restricting where they can nest and consequently limiting their growth, no such plan had been developed for the cormo- rants until last year. Review by March 16 The plan, “Final Envi- ronmental Impact Statement: Double-crested Cormorant Management Plan to Reduce Predation of Juvenile Salmonids in the Columbia River Estuary” is available for public review anticipated to begin Feb. 13 and end March 16. It, and other related docu- ments, can be viewed at http://1. usa.gov/1D6MOxd Festival: FFA forestry club season begins Feb. 28 at Knappa High School Continued from Page 1A the log he’d leapt off, used his momentum to heave and wrap the cable around it, set his choker and took off back WRZDUG WKH ¿QLVK OLQH DW WKH center of the arena. A growing entourage of teammates followed as Hen- drickson hurdled his last set of logs and crossed the fin- ish line less than a second faster than his opponent from Clatskanie. “I’m just waiting to take it to them at state,” said Hen- drickson about his team’s goal of avenging their loss at last year’s state finals. Leading Knappa’s FFA forestry program this year is Mike Rathfon, a 1999 Knappa graduate and its new forestry instructor, who admittedly has never com- peted in timber sports, but said he’s learning the ropes from his students. In a log-rolling match afterward, senior Trentne Smith, after throwing an ax in the relay, showed off his footwork on a slippery, barkless tree trunk rotating on a spit over a small pool. With some frantic shuffling and expert balance, Smith stayed upright as it rolled clockwise and counter- clockwise, while his oppo- nent from Clatskanie took a fall into the pool time and time again, completing JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Kevin Fresh, right, yells encouragement, while Meisha Boettcher, left, Knappa, and Kevin Tilander, center right, compete in a double-buck sawing competition against a team from Clatskanie at the Astoria Timber Festival festi- val Saturday at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Devon Spencer, center, and Isaiah Ives, left, compete in double-buck sawing event during the Astoria Timber Festival Saturday at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. Knappa’s sweep of events Saturday. But old feelings die hard. As some of the Knappa team members celebrated around the log-rolling pond, Smith motioned Skirvin over for a look at something inter- esting. He took the bait, as the rest of Knappa’s team snuck up from behind and gave their former coach a congratulatory splash. Forestry Tuesday’s exhibition was a glorified practice before JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian The Bunun Fortune cargo vessel is being loaded off of Pier 2 at the Port of Astoria. Shutdown: ‘Most of us are doing our best to keep people talking’ Continued from Page 1A Shippers and terminal operators have blamed work slowdowns along the West Coast on the International Longshore and Warehouse Unions, while the union has criticized the PMA for threat- ening to shut down West Coast ports, bargaining in the media and distorting the facts of the two sides’ contract negotiations. The ILWU has been operating without a new contract since July 1. Jim Knight, executive di- rector of the Port of Astoria, has said previously that the Local 50 in Astoria has been loading log ships as quickly as ever. There have been issues, though, between the Astoria Forest Products and the Lo- cal 50 over who transfers logs from storage on Pier 3 to the export yard on Pier 1. Mike Weston, director of business development and operations at the Port, said the longshore union claims jurisdiction to transport logs from Pier 3 to Pier 1. The log company, he added, said that would be al- right, but the longshore union would have to provide its own trucks. The Bunun Fortune, said Weston, was expected to be loaded and leaving by Tues- day, but now might take until Wednesday or Thursday. It’s WKH ¿UVW KH DGGHG RI WKUHH log ships in close succession, the next scheduled to arrive Saturday. “It’s just really bad tim- ing, because the entire West Coast (ports) are in similar circumstances that I’m in,” said Knight Thursday. “It’s just our turn.” “Most of us are doing our best to keep people talking,” said Knight about differences between shippers and long- shore labor. “When people stop talking is when prob- lems start.” the FFA forestry club sea- son begins Feb. 28 at Knap- pa High School, starting several months of events at each of the nine schools in Oregon that field timber sports teams. In May, teams travel to Bend for the FFA state finals. Skirvin, a Clatskanie native who taught for a long time at Knappa and even sent his kids to school there, said it’s hard to com- pete against his former stu- dents, but it makes both sides better competitors. Playing with axes and saws at school is frowned upon, and Skirvin lets many of the competitors from Clats- kanie and Knappa train at his private timber sports arena. Only about 10 percent of timber sports athletes can make a living at it profes- sionally, Skirvin said. While teaching art and forestry, logging in the summers, running forestry programs and recovering from a shoulder injury, the 42-year- old plans to compete for the sixth time in the upcoming Stihl Timbersports Series this spring. While at Knappa, he also started a forestry program to teach students the technical aspects of harvesting timber and managing land, a pro- gram Rathfon, who attended OSU for a forestry degree, is continuing. The FFA forestry pro- gram, the Astoria Timber Festival and its accompany- ing job fair all fit squarely into the regional context of Clatsop County, which is 95 percent forested. The Ore- gon State University Rural Studies Program estimat- ed in 2012 that forest and wood products comprised approximately 28 percent of Clatsop County’s economic output. During the 24th annual Community Leaders For- est Tour in September, an annual countywide plug for the impact of forest- ry, Executive Director Kevin Leahy of Clatsop Economic Development Resources said that Clat- sop County has more than 1,700 of Oregon’s 79,000 forestry sector jobs. “At an average wage of about $65,000, that’s an annual payroll in Clatsop County of $111 million,” Leahy said. Cougar: Few of them live on the North Coast Newman: ‘It’s about life change’ Continued from Page 1A Continued from Page 1A Another sign is the cou- gars paw prints. Wildlife, who confirmed On Monday, Wing said, it. the deer carcass was not “The Warrenton Police buried and did not have Department is relaying marks around it’s neck. this information to keep Biederbeck said cougar the public informed due populations are low on the to this area being in close North Coast. The highest proximity to several resi- cougar populations are dential neighborhoods,” found in Northeast and Workman said on his Southwest Oregon, he department’s Facebook said. page. “We get reports of an Workman said his de- occasional sighting in partment receives about the general Fort Stevens two to three reports per areas,” Biederbeck said. year of possible cougar “There isn’t much evi- sightings and found tracks. dence of a robust cougar The calls often come from population. They are low the Fort Stevens State Park density compared to other area. parts of the state.” “It’s not unusual. As Cougar activity in Ore- the city grows and we gon made news last week are spread out into the when the Bend Bulletin wilderness areas, we get UHSRUWHG 2'): RI¿FLDOV into wild animals’ hunting killed a cougar Jan. 30 af- grounds,” Workman said. ter they tranquilized and ODFW tracks cougar removed it from a tree activity and make deci- in southeast Bend. The sions as to whether or not cougar was a 110-pound, to take any action. 2-year-old male, accord- Herman Biederbeck, ing to ODFW. ODFW biologist in Til- 2I¿FLDOV NLOOHG LW ZLWK lamook, said ODFW did a lethal injection rather QRW GR D ¿HOG LQYHVWLJD than relocate it because tion, but relied on the state of where the animal was park’s report. found — in a dense neigh- :LOGOLIH RI¿FLDOV FDQ borhood — and its age, determine a cougar kill by the Bulletin reported. identifying certain telltale If released nearby, of- signs. ficials said, it may have After a cougar kills an returned, and if released animal it will bury it with far away it could have leaves or branches, in an been forced into a terri- effort to hide the carcass tory fight with another for later, Biederbeck said. cougar. Newman and his board of directors are unapologetically Christian, believe in the pow- er of prayer, see God’s hand in their victories and God’s lessons in their struggles. Providing food, shelter Marlin Martin, the co-direc- tor of Clatsop Community Ac- WLRQDQRQSUR¿WVRFLDOVHUYLFHV group, helps direct food to the mission. “It’s taking people who are without homes and shelter off the street,” he said of Newman’s work. “It’s getting them safe and getting them comfortable and helping to preserve their dignity. “There are a lot of people in this world who look down on those who are the victims of poverty, thinking they did some- thing wrong, it’s all their fault, they’re bad people. “They’re not. They’re vic- tims in many cases of the world, of what happens in our country.” Lean and intense, with the evangelism of a convert, New- man, 44, can speak from expe- rience. He describes himself as a foster child and former drug abuser who had four children out of wedlock before a per- sonal collapse led him to the mission. Tom Jones, the mission’s longtime executive director, became his father-in-law. New- ‘I can give a guy a job. I can put him to work. I can put him in a house. ... but if that person doesn’t have a life change, he will lose the house, he will stop showing up to work ...’ — David Newman executive director of the Astoria Rescue Mission man and his wife, Amy, who runs the women’s house, have three children. “It’s about life change,” said Newman, who is also a contrac- tor. “I can give a guy a job. I can put him to work. I can put him in a house. “I can do all those things, but if that person doesn’t have a life change, he will lose the house, he will stop showing up to work ...” Newman measures success by salvation. “The success here is Christ,” he said. Visit us online at www.DailyAstorian.com