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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2016
Beyond: Public education of beaches needed
Continued from Page 1A
The Beach Bill estab-
lished public recreational use
of beaches, but Maine said
more work was needed to raise
awareness of dynamic ecologi-
cal processes that occur on the
Oregon Coast.
A former science teacher,
Maine has spent years “blow-
ing our minds about things
we already thought we knew
about,” said Lisa Habecker,
Haystack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram education and volunteer
coordinator.
The fight for beaches
Oregon beaches were con-
sidered public use by Native
Americans for centuries. An
1851 treaty
the
United
States signed
with the Clat-
sop
Tribe
made
pro-
visions
for
beach access.
Neal Maine
Though the
treaty was never ratified, it
could be thought of as “the first
Beach Bill,” Maine said.
In 1913, Gov. Oswald West
passed a bill that declared all
Oregon beaches between high
and low tides to be a public
highway, which set the stage
for the Beach Bill, Maine said.
Though the state sold land
on the beach to private own-
ers, the public could still use
the beach.
In 1966, Bill Hay, owner
of the Surfsand Motel in Can-
non Beach, sectioned off part of
the beach for hotel guests only.
Since West’s bill only protected
wet sands, the Beach Bill was
introduced to make dry sands
publicly accessible.
The bill almost never made
it out of committee.
“It didn’t have a lot of polit-
ical clout because it was going
Continued from Page 1A
Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
On the only day of the year when cars can be parked on the beach in Cannon Beach,
this year’s Sandcastle Contest drew an estimated 500 cars. They all left before high tide.
to be confiscation of property,”
Maine said.
However, citizens formed
an organization that cam-
paigned to bring the Beach Bill
back to life. The movement
promoted the idea of the beach
as a place for families, and kids
campaigned on Portland streets
to “Save the beaches.”
Gov. Tom McCall and State
Treasurer Bob Straub were
strong supporters of the Beach
Bill, garnering media attention.
Maine displayed the famous
photo of McCall by the Surf-
sand Motel and its “private
beach” barrier.
In 1967, the Beach Bill
passed, declaring all wet
sand within 16 vertical feet
of the low tide line to be state
property.
However,
landowners’
anger persisted, Maine said.
Straub proposed compensat-
ing landowners for property
taken from them, which would
be paid for by a gas tax. How-
ever, a campaign funded by oil
companies warned of the bill’s
“tricks” and Straub’s plan was
unsuccessful. Maine said to
keep in mind that the shoreline
and beach are transitory, and
the Beach Bill was “a political
event” with no mention of eco-
logical processes.
Public education needed
Maine challenged the audi-
ence to think beyond the Beach
Bill, exploring possible meth-
ods of public involvement on
Oregon beaches for the next 50
years.
“These are living, dynamic
systems,” Maine said. “They’re
just not as conspicuous as
some systems like fish in the
stream or elk coming across the
meadow.”
Maine said he hopes to help
recast Oregon beaches as an
ecosystem and “reconnect the
beaches to the landscape.” He
suggested citizen-level efforts
to expand the discussion on
beaches.
Maine discussed previous
attempts to help the public bet-
ter understand beaches. Wash-
ington state created a document
on ecosystem services, which
put dollar values on shoreline
ecosystems or water purifica-
tion systems in forests.
The problem is “these grand
ideas have been stacking up for
the last decade with no imple-
mentation or public education,”
Maine said.
He has mapped the patterns
and trails of creatures from
Cannon Beach to Astoria.
“It’s a carpet of living phe-
nomenon that we’re kind of
walking around on, but because
of the way we live our lives,
we don’t see very much of it,”
Maine said.
People may be unaware of
the other “hidden” ecological
processes, such as baby razor
clams swimming offshore for
months before returning to the
beach.
“So much of this is so unbe-
lievable,” Maine said.
One question the public
could consider is, “how many
things here locally are function-
ing on a global level?” Maine
said. Creatures like red knots
are found on the Oregon Coast
but “cover the globe,” he said.
The shorebirds migrate from
the Arctic to South America.
The emphasis should not be
to recruit new environmental-
ists, he said, but rather to “raise
the quality of life.”
“Just think about how rich it
would be for everyone if going
to the beach for the picnic
included the wonder and awe
of the living ecological system
of the beach,” Maine said.
The Roses: Couple aims to make building more inviting
Continued from Page 1A
The couple purchased an
1880s Victorian house built
by a former Norwegian fish-
ermen, and William has been
occupied with its renovation
since moving north.
“If that wasn’t enough, we
buy this building, and now
I’m working on the building,
too,” he said, standing Friday
in the Hobson Building. “I’ll
get back to my art.”
Hobson Building
The Hobson Building,
wedged in between the Car-
ruthers and Associated build-
ings, was built in 1923. The
structure houses jewelry and
art store Adagio and photo
studio and hair salon A Shop
for Guys and Dolls. Upstairs
are artist studios and Astoria
Visual Arts offices. The Roses
are trying to find a tenant for
the 1,600 square feet formerly
occupied by The Curious Cat-
erpillar, which left last month.
“It was kind of daunting
when I got the building report
and found out what was
wrong,” William said. “It was
kind of like ‘how am I going
to get this fixed?’”
But the Roses said they
have been aided by a vari-
ety of happenstance encoun-
ters since moving to Asto-
Life Flight: Fields
around the tarmac
are littered with
old foundations
ria, including fellow building
owners, contractors and mem-
bers of the Astoria Downtown
Historic District Association.
“We’re focusing on the
basement and shoring up the
building and making sure it’s
in good shape,” Miriam said.
The couple said they want
to make the Hobson Build-
ing more inviting, painting
the stairwell shared with the
Associated Building to the
west and opening the artist
studios to public tours.
Miriam said the Hobson is
larger than her old building
in downtown San Francisco,
which the couple sold to the
tenant, an engineering firm.
She said the couple purchased
the building when the neigh-
borhood wasn’t as nice. By
the time they sold, she added,
Twitter and Dolby Labora-
tories were neighbors on the
same block.
either location would solve
Life Flight’s immediate con-
cerns, the committee’s pro-
posal would extend utilities
and give Life Flight and other
potential customers direct
access to the tarmac from Air-
port Lane.
“That’s going to open up
areas that aren’t currently
open to development at the
airport,” Balensifer said last
week. “And as you know,
there’s a large business park
there at the airport that is for
the most part undeveloped.”
Balensifer said every city
in the county has expressed
support for the project, along
with regional hospitals on the
North Coast and Washington’s
Long Beach Peninsula. While
the Port should not expect any
checks from cities to help pay
for the project, he said, cities
are interested in partnerships
if the Port commits to the
development.
“I think it’s important for
the Port to think in terms of,
‘How do we make the air-
port have more tenants, and
have a diversified economic
engine,’” Balensifer said.
Bearing the cost
Airport Manager Gary
Kobes said the Port’s prelim-
inary estimate is $1.2 mil-
lion to extend Flightline Drive
south to meet Airport Lane,
installing utilities and creat-
ing a new access lane from
Airport Lane to Life Flight’s
new hangar. That’s in addition
to the cost of constructing the
hangar, which would be paid
for by Life Flight and the state
grant.
“It’s something we really
their house or the Hobson
Building, the couple can be
seen walking their 3-year-
old Irish wolfhound, Ena, or
volunteering with the down-
town association and Liberty
Theater.
want to do,” he said of the
Port’s interest. “We just have
to figure out how to get it
done.”
Kobes
said
extend-
ing Flightline Drive would
increase access and open more
business-oriented opportuni-
ties at the airport. The fields
around the tarmac are lit-
tered with the foundations of
old buildings from when the
airport was a military base,
helping supply vehicle carri-
ers built in World War II-era
shipyards at Vanport, a for-
mer city at Delta Park in Port-
land. To help Lektro expand
in the 2000s, the Port bor-
rowed more than $3 mil-
lion to expand the company’s
hangars, improve firefight-
ing capabilities and upgrade
utilities.
What will
Life Flight pay?
Port commissioners ques-
tioned Dalstra at last week’s
meeting over what the non-
profit was willing to bear to
make the project happen.
Commissioner James Camp-
bell specifically asked if Life
Flight was open to a revenue
bond, which uses future rent to
repay financing for a project.
Dalstra said nothing is off
the table, but that the nonprofit
is already on a timeline, hav-
ing told the state the new han-
gar would be complete by the
end of April.
“After talking to Connec-
tOregon, I do believe we’ll be
extended some extensions …
but I don’t know how many
extensions we can go back
to,” he said. “And then I think
the second and more pressing
issue would be, it affects our
operation.”
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Joining the community
Miriam said she had never
been to Oregon before mov-
ing to Astoria. During the
couple’s first week in town,
staying at a bed and break-
fast, is when she said she first
heard Astoria called Little
San Francisco.
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