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.”