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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2016 Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Kevin Cronin holds his daughter, Teagan, 3, on his shoulders before marching during the Astoria Regatta Junior Parade. Regatta Grand Land Parade takes over town Saturday The Daily Astorian Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Nate and Tom Alfonse of Alfonse Excavation clear away dirt on the Westport Slough habitat restoration project Tuesday in Westport. CREST: ‘Eighty percent of the estuary has been lost since the late 1880s’ Continued from Page 1A mountains, unloaded an esti- mated 3 billion board feet of timber to be rafted down the river to mills. The dike sur- rounding the land was a way for workers to get from the railroad to the water, he said, but has long since become obsolete. CREST put out bids on the $400,000 project, hiring Hen- derson Environmental Design- Build Professionals, an environ- mental construction group out of Lake Oswego, as general con- tractor. Henderson in turn hired Astoria’s Alfonse Excavating to breach the dike in six spots around the land, and Browns- mead’s Empo Bay Marine to loat Alfonse’s equipment across the slough on barges and onto the dikes to avoid damaging the surrounding environment. Nate Alfonse said the com- pany has trucked materials for several restoration projects and likes the work, as long as it is not hindering other developments such as housing. “For the area we’re working in, I think it’s a great thing, when there’s noth- ing being done with it,” he said. Alfonse will remove 1,500 of the more than 6,200 feet of dike surrounding the land by the end of the month, when work starts on the similar-sized Kerry Island directly to the west. The land is owned by the Columbia Land Trust and also managed as wildlife habitat. Recapturing wetland “Eighty percent of the estu- ary has been lost since the late 1880s,” said Denise Löfman, the director of CREST. Since 1974, CREST has pro- vided research on the estuary and environmental planning. But the large majority of the group’s budget now comes from envi- ronmental restoration projects largely funded by the federal Bonneville Power Administra- tion, which is required to restore habitat to offset the impact of hydroelectric dams it operates along the Columbia River. Löfman said people used to see the river as a freeway to a cool, cobalt blue. As Cox worked on the base, Strong and Peven alternated turns climb- ing, cleaning and repainting the “scissors,” one of several parts that had to be replaced on classic carnival ride. The “Octopus,” “Rock-O-Plane” and “Midge-O-Racer” each had new parts installed and are awaiting a inal inspection. “A couple little things and we’ll be ready to rock on three more rides,” Summerer said. Some rides, including the bumper boats, were simply beyond saving. “There was just way too much wood rot and rust,” Sum- merer said. Instead, the vacant space will allow for as many as six or seven new rides. Recession, rain The Great Recession had a Kids walk in costume during the Astoria Re- gatta Junior Parade on Wednesday in downtown Astoria. Submitted Map Since the late 1880s, about 80 percent of the existing Columbia River Estuary has been lost to development and diking. Green indicates habitat, yellow recoverable habitat and red habitat lost to development. through which ish left to sea, but that by the 2000s, research had shined a spotlight on the importance of the estuary in helping outgoing salmon bulk up and acclimate to a brackish environment. “The science is what’s moved BPA money into the estuary,” she said. “It’s no lon- ger seen as a freeway.” Löfman said her group tries to ind willing landown- ers who want to improve ish habitat, while getting funding from and helping Bonneville meet its environmental obliga- tions. Since 2010, CREST has helped restore more than 1,000 acres of wetlands in the Colum- bia estuary. Creating jobs The group has worked with Bonneville as the primary fund- ing source on 18 projects since 2010, Löfman said, putting more than $8 million in construction projects on the ground, along with $1.5 million in design and engineering work, and $3.5 mil- lion in salaries for CREST staff permitting, managing and mon- itoring projects. Löfman noted a report by researchers at the Uni- versity of Oregon that every $1 million spent on ecological res- toration can create 14 to 16 jobs. Bruce Henderson, owner of the general contractor hired by CREST for the Westport Slough project, said there are nine to 10 people he has employed in the $400,000 project. “CREST is a superb client,” he said. “As an organization they put more dollars to work on the ground than a lot of the other organizations we work with.” Most of CREST’s proj- ects are with government agen- cies. But Löfman said her group also tries to help private land- owners concerned about creat- ing wildlife habitat, such as the late Charnelle Fee. In 1997, Fee bought the property along the Klaskanine River where she founded the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. In 2013, CREST over- saw the Fee-Simon Wetland Enhancement, which breached dikes to reclaim 50 acres of wetland to the southwest of the wildlife center. The project resulted in a new wetland area, and a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-certiied dike to pro- tect property to the west. Helping the Port CREST recently hired an engineer to study the feasibil- ity of removing dikes along the Skipanon River to reclaim some former wetlands owned by the Port of Astoria, which has been thinking of moving its boatyard to Warrenton. Löfman said the project has the poten- tial to create 90 acres of wet- lands, gaining both Bonneville and the Port valuable wetland mitigation credits needed to offset future construction proj- ects like the boatyard, and pro- viding new Corps-certiied levees to protect surrounding property. Löfman said engineers are looking at soil conditions, how the existing levees are con- structed and what would be needed to protect adjacent prop- erty owners from the potential new wetlands. That research will help CREST and Bonne- ville decide whether the project has enough beneit to warrant the cost of construction. Jim Knight, the Port’s execu- tive director, said it is dificult to gauge the potential of the project until the feasibility study is done — possible around the early part of next year — but that CREST should be applauded for doing a feasibility study on their dime that could help the Port and the community. Park: The Great Recession impacted the amusement park Continued from Page 1A A signature event of the 2016 Astoria Regatta, the Grand Land Parade, sponsored by Fred Meyer and Teevin Brothers, starts at noon Satur- day, and follows the same route used for the last several years. The parade starts at 16th and Exchange streets, then goes west on Exchange to Ninth Street, where it turns north for one block. At Ninth and Duane streets the parade turns east, and goes to 17th Street, where the parade ends. Exchange and Duane streets, between Ninth and 17th streets, will have no on street parking on Saturday until the parade ends. The no parking areas will be signed, and any vehicle parked at those locations will be removed by a tow truck. The owner will be responsible for the tow fees. At 8:30 a.m. Exchange direct impact on Long Beach businesses including the amusement park. The “Rock- O-Plane” and the “Octopus” were shut down in 2008, the result of the recession, accord- ing to Bob Steffens. Steffens heads a ive-man crew oversee- ing the maintenance and oper- ation at the park, a position he had for more than 20 years. The park was long owned by the Rutherford family, most recently by Don, son of legend- ary Long Beach Mayor Fred Rutherford. “The economy was hit hard,” Steffens said, “So he decided to shut them down.” Vacant and exposed to the wet Paciic Northwest winters, soon the wind and water took a toll. The Tilt-A-Whirl, irst purchase d in 1999, began showing wear beyond its age early on. Rides require reconditioning after only a couple of seasons because of rampant rust, but little attention was given, par- ticularly to those no longer in service. Bigger than ever before After the refurbishing of existing rides is complete, new rides will be added in the com- ing months. “By next year, we’re going to acquire a number of addi- tional rides. It will be much bigger than it ever really was before — the largest that we’re aware of on the coast,” Sum- merer said. The search for a centerpiece ride and new addi- tions appealing to a broader audience will occupy much of the offseason. “We want to buy a Fer- ris wheel, and we’re look- ing at some other rides. There needs to be a good mix of rides for young children, and also rides that will bring in the high school and college-age crowd. A Ferris wheel is something a grandparent can take a grand- child on — you want to have a nice mix,” Summerer said. Even with only a few rides running, the park hasn’t lost its appeal. “We bring our grandkids down all the time,” said Long Beach resident Vicky Hacker looking on as granddaughter, Emma Griffeth, climbed into a bumper car. Hacker has been coming to the carnival since retiring to Long Beach in 1986. After 30 minutes, Emma had weaved her way through all the available rides and retired to an open seat next to her grandmother by the bumper cars where she started. Next year it will likely take Emma much longer to expe- rience all the amusement park has to offer. Street closes between 16th and 23rd streets. Access to Colum- bia Memorial Hospital, and dialysis and urgent care facil- ities in the Park Building is available from 20th, 21st and 23rd streets. At about 10:30 a.m., all streets that travel north and south (the numbered streets) are being closed from Commer- cial Street to Franklin Avenue, and between Eighth and 17th streets. These trafic disruptions last until the parade ends and the street has been swept. U.S. Highway 30 remains open, but may experience delays due to pedestrian trafic and loats moving to the dis- band area. Trafic needing to get to or from the South Slope of Astoria should use unaf- fected, alternate routes. For information, contact Dan Arnoth at 503-338-0799 or email parade@astoriare- gatta.com Quake: Death toll could reach as high as 10,000 Continued from Page 1A Using nearly 200 core sam- ples of underwater landslide deposits, left behind by past subduction zone earthquakes, Goldinger and his team, which included scientists from Canada and Spain, have found that the northern sections are coming due for a shaker. Pre- vious studies were based on as few as 12 core samples. The section that runs from Newport to Astoria was previ- ously thought to rupture about every 400 to 500 years, but the new data shows that interval is closer to 350 years. The north- ernmost section, from Astoria to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, had its quake fre- quency revised down from an earthquake every 500 to 530 years down to one every 430 years. The last time the subduction zone saw a major quake where the entire zone ruptures, which scientists have been able to pin down because it caused a tsu- nami that traveled across the Paciic ocean to Japan, was in 1700, 316 years ago. “What this work shows is that, contrary to some previ- ous estimates, the two middle sections of the Cascadia Sub- duction Zone that affect most of Oregon have a frequency that’s more similar than differ- ent,” Goldinger said. Given that data, the chances of a quake hitting the central Oregon region in the next 50 years have been upgraded as well, going from between 14 and 17 percent to between 15 and 20 percent. The Cascadia Subduction Zone has long been studied by experts, but it gained promi- nence in the mainstream last year after Kathryn Schulz’s Pulitzer Prize winning fea- ture in The New Yorker on the perils facing the Paciic Northwest. “What’s important is that these indings give us more conidence about what’s com- ing in our future.” As Schulz and others have pointed out, it won’t just be the MORE ONLINE View the full report online: http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/ pp1661f/ ground shaking that causes the most destruction. The ensu- ing tsunami that would likely follow a major quake, which could be stronger than a mag- nitude 9.0, would wreak just as much, if not more, damage than the quake itself. The death toll could reach as high as 10,000 from the combined earthquake and tsu- nami should the big one hit, some 85,000 buildings could be damaged and the rebuild costs could top $32 billion. The new elevated risk comes as Oregon State moves forward with plans to build a $50 million marine sci- ences facility in Newport at the mouth of Yaquina Bay, squarely in the path of tsu- nami. Goldinger has protested the plan, calling it “completely inexplicable” and questioned why the school would ignore the relevant science showing the risk to the structure. University administrators, however, have pushed ahead with the 100,000 square foot facility at the Hatield Marine Science Center campus in Newport, saying the building will be able to withstand a mag- nitude 9.0 quake and provide shelter for its students and staff. Building issues aside, the new research has helped Gold- inger and others in the earth sciences reine projections for when the Paciic Northwest can expect to feel its next quake. “Part of what’s important is that these indings give us more conidence about what’s coming in our future,” Gold- inger said. “Now we have a great deal more certainty that the general concern about earthquakes caused by the Cascadia Subduction Zone is scientiically valid, and we also have more precise infor- mation about the earthquake frequency and behavior of the subduction zone.”