2015 Annual
Photo Contest
Junior sweeps into
Hall of Fame
COAST WEEKEND
SPORTS • 7A
143rd YEAR, No. 131
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
CREST
fallen at
the Port?
Commission looks
at severing ties with
estuary task force
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A
BIG
BIRD
Ken Chan/Wikimedia Commons
Mike Patterson, organizer of the Columbia Estuary Christmas Bird Count, said
birders spotted an American white pelican (like the one pictured here) at the
Port of Ilwaco, Wash .’s, boat basin.
DAY FOR
HOLIDAY
COUNT
Locals ¿ nd more
avian species this
time than ever before
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren/Wikimedia Commons
Lee Cain and Nick Baisley, science teachers at Astoria High School taking part late
last month in the Columbia Estuary Christmas Bird Count, spotted a Wilson’s war-
bler (like the one pictured here), identified by its yellow underparts and black cap.
B
irders with the 36th annual Columbia
Estuary Christmas Bird Count had a big
day.
The 22 volunteers who gathered around the
mouth of the Columbia River to watch birds
Dec. 22 spotted 134 species, one more than the
previous all-time record of 133 set in 2000 and
about 10 above the average number of species
counted, according to organizer Mike Patterson.
The Columbia estuary event is part of the
regional Christmas Bird Count, one of the lon-
gest-running resident surveys of bird species in
the Western Hemisphere.
Volunteers at each event attempt to count all
the birds in a 15-mile circle throughout a given
day. The Columbia Estuary count, centered on
a point in the Columbia River estuary halfway
between Hammond and Chinook, Washington ,
started in 1979.
Good weather
David Maloney/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
According to Patterson, a central organizer
and counter since 1987, the high numbers this
year were more a factor of weather than any es-
pecially deep variety of birds.
“We had a good weather day,” he said. “When
the weather’s bad, birders don’t want to get out
of the car. When the weather gets cold, some of
the birds tend to move out.”
Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count organizer Andrew Emlen said six of the endan-
gered streaked horned larks (like the one pictured here) were found at their year-
round colony site on White Island, off the eastern edge of Puget Island, Wash .
The Port of Astoria Commission,
following the lead of the Port of Il-
waco, Washington , is asking whether
membership in the Columbia River
Estuary Study Taskforce is worth the
$6,000 a year it pays in dues.
The item was brought up by
Commissioner Bill Hunsinger at
Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“I see things starting to happen,
where people no longer want to be-
long to CREST,” Hunsinger said.
The task force was formed in
1974 by a council of governments
in Washington and Oregon to gath-
er background and develop a man-
agement plan for the entire L ower
Columbia River estuary, in response
to growing conÀ icts over the use of
estuarine areas and amid dwindling
natural resources.
See PORT, Page 10A
DHS
turned a
blind eye
to trouble
No license, staff
crime records went
overlooked at
foster care
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon child welfare
of¿ cials knew in 2009 the Portland
foster care program Give Us This
Day was operating without a license
and was staffed entirely by people
with criminal records.
Still, the Oregon Department of
Human Services allowed Give Us
This Day to continue operating with-
out the necessary residential care
license. It was unclear from state re-
cords how long the situation persist-
ed, and DHS was unable to provide
an answer Wednesday afternoon.
Emails released by the Depart-
ment of Human Services reveal
top department of¿ cials knew of
See BIRDS, Page 10A
See DHS, Page 5A
Finding happiness in the city of their dreams
A new move
and a career
transition
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — For Chris and
Alexa Anderson, the chance to
relocate to Seaside seemed like
a dream come true. Chris was
offered a chance to continue
his 15-year career as an in-
surance adjuster in a city they
both had fallen in love with.
They purchased a condo in
Seaside, loaded up the truck
and moved from Logan, Utah,
in February 2014.
OUR NEW
NEIGHBORS
HIGHLIGHTING PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO THE COMMUNITY
All ready to start his new
job here, corporate headquar-
ters threw him a curveball.
“They said, ‘Chris, we’ve just
moved our ¿ eld jobs in-house.
You can either move to Des
Moines or Columbus.’”
Today, he sees it as a bless-
ing in disguise. “I wasn’t
shocked, but I was hurt,” Chris
said. “They could have han-
dled it a whole lot better.”
In love with the Oregon
Coast, Chris decided to stay.
It was the right decision. He
soon forged a new career as a
property manager and real es-
tate broker.
Alexa, who ran a salon in
their former home , found a new
role at Shear Pleasures in the
Gilbert Building, where she is
now cutting hair (full disclo-
sure: including this reporter’s).
R.J. Marx /The Daily Astorian
See ANDERSONS, Page 10A
Alexa and Chris Anderson relocated to Seaside from Lo-
gan, Utah.