COAST WEEKEND: 2016 ASTORIA REGATTA INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2016
144TH YEAR, NO. 30
ONE DOLLAR
Taskforce tears down to build up estuaries
CREST works
with landowners to
restore habitat
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WESTPORT — Across the West-
port Slough from Carver Road,
father and son Tom and Nate Alfonse
and another family member are dig-
ging out a 100- to 300-foot section
of dike separating 160 acres of wet-
lands from the channel .
The land historically was an
unloading point for logs from the
Oregon Coast Range being dumped
off of railroad cars into the slough to
be rafted down the Columbia River.
When Alfonse Excavating of Asto-
ria fi nishes digging out dikes and
several tidal inlets by the end of the
month, the property, part of the Julia
Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge, will
once again be subject to the tides.
The Westport Slough Habitat
Restoration Project is the 18th over-
seen by the Columbia River Estuary
Study Taskforce, which works with
willing landowners downstream of
the Bonneville Dam to rebuild estu-
arine environments benefi cial to fi sh
and other wildlife.
Paddling around the work site is
Jason Smith, a Seaside native and
habitat restoration project manager
with CREST overseeing the project
at Westport Slough.
Smith said the restoration site is
where the Nehalem Valley Railroad,
after traveling north through the
Danny Miller
The Daily Astorian
Matt Van Ess,
CREST habitat
restoration pro-
gram manager,
and CREST
Director Denise
Löfman look
over a map of
the Westport
Slough habi-
tat restoration
project Tuesday
in Westport.
See CREST, Page 10A
You gotta love a Regatta parade Odds of
Big One
revised
upward
Risk of major Cascadia
quake higher than
previously thought
By KALE WILLIAMS
The Oregonian
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Andrew Fick carries his daughter, Zoja, 2, on his shoulders during the Astoria Regatta Junior Parade on Wednesday in downtown Astoria.
Kids in costumes strut their stuff downtown
The Daily Astorian
A
storia Regatta festivities hit the streets Wednesday with the Junior Parade. • The celebration continues today
with the Queen’s Luncheon at the Astoria Golf & Country Club and the crowning of the 2016 queen at 6 p.m.
at the Liberty Theater. • Saturday features a full day of festivities, including the Grand Land Parade (see
story on Page 10A), Highwater Boat Parade, fi reworks and more. The Astoria Regatta special section with the full cal-
endar is online at http://bit.ly/2aEgtbw • Sailboat races and a concert wrap up the events Sunday.
Cub Scouts in Packs 509 and 211 march during the Astoria Re-
gatta Junior Parade in downtown Astoria on Wednesday.
MORE
INSIDE
See more
photos from
the Junior
Parade and
read about
Saturday’s
parade route
on Page 10A.
Carolyn Roe, left, and Clara Moore walk with their arms around each
other during the Astoria Regatta Junior Parade on Wednesday .
Using data with an unprecedented level
of detail, a team of international research-
ers, including some from Oregon State
University, have found that a major earth-
quake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone
is more likely than previously thought.
The team also found that quakes along
the subduction zone happen more fre-
quently and some of the region’s largest
population centers, including Portland and
Seattle, are overdue for a rupture.
“These new results are based on much
better data than has been available before,
and reinforce our confi dence in fi ndings
regarding the potential for major earth-
quakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone,”
Chris Goldfi nger, a
leading expert on tec-
tonic activity and pro-
fessor of earth sci-
ences at Oregon State,
said in a statement.
“With
more
detailed data we have
also changed some-
what our projections
for the average recur-
rence interval of earth-
Chris
quakes on the subduc-
Goldfinger
tion zone, especially
the northern parts. The frequency, although
not the intensity, of earthquakes there
appears to be somewhat higher than we pre-
viously estimated,” he added.
The subduction zone, which runs from
Northern California to British Colum-
bia, is broken up into four sections. Pro-
jections for earthquakes in the southern
sections, south of Newport, have stayed
the same, but from Newport northward
experts believe the likelihood of a signif-
icant quake are greater than previously
believed.
See QUAKE, Page 10A
Amusement park is ready to Rock-O-Plane
Long Beach
park fi xes rides,
aims for ‘bigger
and better’ future
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash.
— An ambitious amusement
park makeover is underway
in Long Beach. The owners
of LB Amusement since May,
Chris Summerer and Russell
Maize, have been on a mission
to return the park to its former
prominence.
“That was the fi rst thought
in our mind, to get (the rides)
repaired and back running
again,” Summerer said. “Over
the years they have fallen into
disrepair and have sat here
idle.” A carousel, Tilt-A-Whirl
and bumper cars comprise the
core rides of the park , where
rides on the fringes of the
property have been the focus
of a face-lift.
Several of the rides have
been out of service for longer
than many children attending
have been alive, but they will
soon discover what they’ve
been missing.
“It’s exciting,” said Sum-
merer. “When I fi rst came to
Long Beach in 2002, these were
all running.” It’s been nearly a
decade since Long Beach res-
idents stood in line for a ride
on the “Rock-O-Plane,” but
the wait won’t be much longer.
The fi nal green light is likely
in coming weeks pending a
fi nal inspection. Finding parts,
including new ‘scissors’ and an
electrical box, took time. Sum-
merer estimates the last refur-
bish occurred in 1996, and the
ride has been entirely idle for
about eight years.
Twenty years later, the ride
is receiving a makeover from
Marcus Cox, Casey Strong and
Jeremy Peven, the trio tasked
with repainting the colos-
sal ride from fi re engine red
See PARK, Page 10A
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
Bob Steffens works to remove rust from the tracks of the
“Tilt-A-Whirl” Monday at the LB Amusement Park in Long
Beach. Steffens has provided park maintenance for more
than 20 years.