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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2016)
12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016 Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Members of the Coast Guard explore Fort Clatsop and its uses as a possible shelter in case of an earthquake and tsunami during a drill Monday. Drill: 6hort distance to park avoids potential hurdles Continued from Page 1A Kenne asked what the members consider high ground. One Guardsman joked, “Anything higher than what I was walking on.” As part of the agreement with the national park, the Coast Guard is stashing an emergency kit at the park full of tents, sleeping bags, tarps, a hatchet, shovels and axes. The kit also includes a water ¿lter, ¿re starter and other essentials. Before evacuating, members would take a satellite phone with a connection to the district of¿ce in 6eattle and handheld radios. “Our focus is food, water, shelter,” Kenne said. “We are not really going anywhere for a few days. We are trying to make sure our people are safe.” ‘Lewis and Clark had it right’ Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Members of the Coast Guard including Skip Dronen, center, and Dave Bartram, center back, jog to Fort Clatsop as part of a tsunami drill Monday morning. ‘Lewis and Clark had it right. They chose this location because of its height over high tide.’ Scott Tucker Lewis and Clark National Historical Park superintendent 6cott Tucker, /ewis and Clark 1ational Historical Park superintendent, said he was approached by the Coast Guard about a year ago about using the park in a Cascadia event. It’s a natural partnership, Tucker said, especially because both are federal agencies. A couple of years ago, the Coast Guard tried an evacuation drill at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center in Warrenton, but realized the center was too far away. The short distance to the national park avoids hurdles such as damaged bridges. Tucker points out the replica Fort Clatsop has 30 beds, if needed. “/ewis and Clark had it right. They chose this location because of its height over high tide,” Tucker said. “Twohundred years later, the ground is higher than the proposed tsunami zone.” The national park and Coast Guard are in the process of establishing a written agreement to formally have an evacuation plan in place. Along with storing goods at the park, Tucker said, the Coast Guard would be welcome to use the park’s equipment in its maintenance shops. “If our role in this is making sure the Coast Guard can do their job, I can sleep well at night knowing we are doing our piece for the community,” Tucker said. 3HRSOH¿UVW In any emergency situation, Kenne said, the most critical thing is saving people. Equipment comes second. If a helicopter is in the hangar, it’s not going to get out in time. And if the power is out, the hangar doors would not even open anyway. “Our focus is people ¿rst, if we can save them,” Kenne said. Along with becoming an emergency head quarters for the Coast Guard, the national park is also an of¿cial community assembly area for residents in the immediate area. Kenne reminded the group Monday that their time at the park may be spent assisting their fellow community members. “We may have to build shelter, not just for us, but there may be other folks,” Kenne said. “We may be helping out folks like we always do.” Totem: Pole must be OK’d before the next ¿scal year Continued from Page 1A The statue will depict a member of the 1eCus’ village extending his arm out in a gesture of welcoming. Palette Group members are suggesting that the pole be placed just west of the picnic table at 1eCus’ Park in a clearing. The pole would face toward the ocean, as 1eCus’ village members did when they welcomed ¿shermen and traders approaching the Clatsop village by dugout canoe on the ocean. Although the statue would be carved from a cedar log, it would have spots of black, red and blue paint. Members of the public arts committee questioned how intense the colors would be, and Basch, who has been in contact with Capoeman, said he thought they would be created from natural pigment. Arts committee member Allyn Cantor, of White Bird Gallery, questioned how well the pole would wear in the weather. “Is it meant to be weatherworn"” she asked. “Think of old totem poles you have seen,” Basch replied. “We could talk to him (Capoeman) about touching it up later.” Basch noted that Capoeman is carving the statue “as a favor to me and my family. He would charge twice the amount if he did it for another organization,” he said. “If he were doing it for other cities, it would be much, much higher.” They also questioned what type of base would be used for the pole and how it would be stabilized to withstand windstorms. City Planner Mark Barnes, who attended the meeting, said he would check with the city building of¿cial to determine if the concrete pad would have to be engineered to provide more stability. It could cost about $5,000 to install the pole, in addition to the $10,000 cost to create it, Kucera noted. That expense could come from the city’s budget beginning the next ¿scal year, which starts in -uly, he said. Barnes also warned committee members that the design review board might want to wait until the designs for two other interpretive signs proposed for the park were submitted or until a citywide parks master plan is completed. However, Barbara /innett, chairwoman of the Palette Group, noted that the pole could be moved to another location ² perhaps /es 6hirley Park — if it wasn’t deemed appropriate in 1eCus’ Park. Because the funding would come from a public arts grant designated for ¿scal year 015, the pole must be approved before the end of -une. “The alternative is not to do it at all,” /innett said. Arts committee member Hank -ohnson noted that the 1eCus’ Park plan calls for an eventual canoe landing on Ecola Creek. “This pole ¿ts nicely with the landing,” he said. For many generations, the 1eCus’ village, on both banks of Ecola Creek, welcomed visitors who paddled canoes to ¿sh or trade south around 1eahkahnie Mountain north to the mouth of the Columbia River. They would often stop at 1eCus’ to visit and eat with relatives in the Clatsop and 1ehalem tribes before continuing their journeys, Basch said after the meeting. “Many people don’t realize there were Indians here and there are still Indians here,” he said. “This has been a beautiful place to come here for generations. “I think it’s important for people to realize that there is a group of people who consider this our homeland. And I think it’s always great to see geography through the eyes of someone else, especially the aboriginal people who have deep, deep roots in this land.” Submitted Photo A totem pole designed by Guy Capoeman. A 10-foot-tall welcoming pole in the figure of a Clatsop tribesman may soon be installed in NeCus’ Park.
