DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017 144TH YEAR, NO. 137 FLIGHT TO FREEDOM WILDLIFE CENTER OF THE NORTH COAST RELEASES A RESCUED BALD EAGLE ONE DOLLAR West Coast crab strike ends after 11 days Fishermen settle on $2.875 per pound The Daily Astorian EUREKA, Calif. — An 11-day strike by thousands of West Coast crab fishermen has ended after a successful negotiation of prices with seafood processors. The agreement reached late Fri- CRABBERS day will restart the sputtering season RESCUED for much-sought- after Dungeness Quick response by good Samaritans crabs in Northern saves five. California, Oregon and Washington. PAGE 2A The Hum- boldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association told KRCR-TV in Eureka, California, that the crabbers had set- tled on a price of $2.875 per pound of crabs See STRIKE, Page 7A Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Christina Merten, left, and Josh Saranpaa of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast release an adult male bald eagle near Clats- kanie on Friday. The eagle was rescued in December after being severely injured from what was likely a territorial bird fight. “I didn’t think he was going to make it,” said Merten, the center’s wildlife rehabilitation technician. This was Merten’s first bald eagle that she cared for rescue-to-release. “It’s so rewarding,” she said. Tony Schick/Oregon Public Broadcasting The forest surrounding Jetty Creek, the water supply for the town of Rockaway Beach, has been logged heavily. Some residents there say the timber harvests have impacted their water quality, but the forest owners, industry groups and the state’s Department of Forestry disagree. Timber push scraps state water report DEQ ran afoul of politically influential timber industry By TONY SCHICK Oregon Public Broadcasting ABOVE: A rescued bald eagle sits perched in a nearby tree after being re- leased by Wildlife Center of the North Coast on Friday near Clatskanie. ABOVE LEFT: Wildlife Center of the North Coast staff prepares to release an adult male bald eagle on the proper- ty where it was originally rescued near Clatskanie. LEFT: Christina Merten, a wildlife reha- bilitation technician, and Josh Saranpaa, executive director of the Wildlife Center on the North Coast, carry an adult male bald eagle into a field to be released. The Oregon Department of Environ- mental Quality drafted a report that identi- fied logging as a contributor to known risks for drinking water quality in communities up and down the Oregon Coast. But the report has never been published. It was scrapped by the agency after intense pushback and charges of anti-logging bias from the timber industry and the state Department of Forestry, according to inter- views and public records. In summer 2015, state water-quality spe- cialists finished a draft of a resource guide for 50 public water systems along the coast. It assessed threats to surface water and offered guidance on how to protect it before it reaches treatment systems. See TIMBER, Page 7A BRINLEY ELIZABETH ANDERSON Astoria’s first baby of 2017 arrives The Andersons, of Naselle, say their family is now complete B efore dawn broke Jan. 2, Brinley Elizabeth Ander- son, the first birth at Columbia Memorial Hospital this year, entered the world. She may have missed her Jan. 1 due date, but Brinley, born 8 pounds, 20 inches long, still holds the title of Astoria’s New Year’s baby of 2017 and the first baby born in a Clatsop County hospital this year. (See related story on Page 7A) “My water broke at home at 3:30 a.m. and she was here at 6:58 a.m.,” her mother, Mar- ijane Anderson, of Naselle, Washington, said. “She came really quick.” The experience reminded Marijane of those movies where “they’re rushing you in, and you feel like your baby’s going to come out in the park- ing lot.” But she and her hus- band of 12 years, Wesley Anderson, managed to reach the maternity ward in time. Brinley, who had jaundice, remained in the hospital an extra night. But since her dis- charge Wednesday, the infant is eating well and gaining weight, Marijane said. Both Naselle natives, Mar- ijane, 31, and Wesley, 32, were high school sweethearts. She works as a server at Cast- aways Seafood Grille, he as a mechanic and operator for See BABY, Page 7A Erick Bengel/The Daily Astorian Marijane Anderson holds Brinley Elizabeth Anderson, Astoria’s New Year’s baby, one day after giving birth. The mother is with her husband, Wesley Anderson (right) and their children William (far left), 9, and Brielle, 5.