4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017
Cascadia: Responders from east side might help west
Chelan
ine
lt l
90
Wenatchee
90
Tacoma
Olympia
Severe
Yakima
Strong
Moderate
* Based on Modified
Mercalli Intensity scale
82
Longview
Astoria
Vancouver
lumbia Riv e r
Co
Portland
The
Dalles
84
Richland
Pasco
Lewiston
Walla Walla
Kennewick
Umatilla
Hermiston
Boardman
Pendleton
Enterprise
La Grande
5
101
Salem
84
Corvallis
Redmond
Bend
Eugene
Scenario
epicenter,
magnitude
9.0 earthquake
Burns
5
Coos Bay
Council
John Day
OREGON
Ontario
Boise
Caldwell
Nampa
84
Roseburg
101
Sources: Cascadia Rising
exercise scenario document;
U.S. Geological Survey,
Earthquake Hazards Program
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
munications director for Good
Shepherd Health Care System,
said immediately after Casca-
dia they would implement their
emergency operations plan.
“We would call in all nurses
and physicians within driving
distance that could make it in,”
he said, calling it an “all hands
on deck” situation.
Bejarano said as many as
60,000 injured and hospital-
ized people from the west side
the state will need to be tri-
aged and evacuated to hospi-
tals still in operation. The hospi-
tal in Hermiston is only licensed
for 25 beds, and many Eastern
Oregon hospitals have simi-
larly small numbers, so he said
patients being fl own out of the
west will be sent as far away as
Utah. However, Good Shepherd
would take in as many people
as it could handle, including
those with less serious injuries
who could be stitched up and
released.
The Red Cross and FEMA,
meanwhile, would be working
to set up shelter. In Oregon the
state estimates 520,000 people
will need shelter in the after-
math of Cascadia, while about
500,000 more will stay in their
own makeshift shelters but still
Grants Pass
N
Medford
Klamath Falls
40 miles
Ashland
5
CALIFORNIA
NEVADA
EO Media Group/File Photo
Friends and family watch as four Oregon Army National
Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopters with the 1st Battalion,
168th Aviation Regiment, fly in formation over the runway
at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton. The
airport would become a critical resource if the Cascadia
Subduction Zone earthquake strikes the Pacific Northwest.
need support with food and
water.
Monique Dugaw, commu-
nications director for the Cas-
cades region of the Red Cross,
said the nonprofi t works closely
with the government during
disasters and participated in
the Cascadia Rising drill. After
an earthquake the Red Cross
would start by providing shelter.
“We would be focused on
meeting immediate needs, a cot,
a blanket, a place to stay that’s
safe and warm, three meals a
day,” she said.
Sending out supplies
The government plans to
use Robert’s Field in Redmond
as the Federal Incident Sup-
port Base on the assumption
it remains mostly undamaged
during Cascadia.
Steve Chrisman, manager of
the Pendleton Airport, said he
Ralph Werner of Hermis-
ton, inspired by the book
“When All Plans Fail” by
Paul Williams, is laying
the groundwork for those
efforts now by creating
a neighborhood disaster
plan with the 18 houses
surrounding his.
“If no one knows what to
do, we have chaos,” he
said.
Riv
er
Very strong
IDAHO
r
Snake R i v e
5
Weak
Spokane
Sn
ak
e
Ground
shaking
intensity*
Coulee Dam
WASHINGTON
Seattle
EO Media Group
PENDLETON — In the
days following a major
natural disaster when
government and nonprofit
resources are still over-
whelmed, one of the best
ways to help can be taking
care of others.
R i ver
mb
Colu ia
101
fau
on
Umatilla County emergency
manager Tom Roberts said
he could see Umatilla County
quickly becoming sandwiched
between refugees from the west
and volunteers and journalists
pouring in from the east.
Many of the people coming
from the west side of the state
will likely have injuries sus-
tained as buildings and bridges
collapsed. Nick Bejarano, com-
5
ub
du
cti
Infl ux of people
Ca
sc
ad
ia
s
A large earthquake on the Cascadia subduction fault line in
the Pacific Ocean would shake the entire Pacific Northwest.
B.C., CANADA
Vancouver
Ocean
Mutual aid
In 2015 Umatilla County
signed a “sister county” agree-
ment with Tillamook County,
agreeing to send its public
works director and other staff to
the coast to help in the event of
a major natural disaster.
Public works director Tom
Fellows said he and his Tilla-
mook County counterpart have
both taken multiple trips to
their sister county to tour infra-
structure, meet employees and
get familiar with the available
resources.
“The initial thought is that
if something happens down
there, there’s not only going to
be chaos, but leadership down
there is going to be focused on
their own families — as they
should be — so we could bring
in some leadership,” he said.
Fellows said both coun-
ties have expressed an inter-
est in expanding the agreement
to other departments such as
health and law enforcement.
Umatilla County’s ongo-
ing partnerships with Morrow
County would also come into
play. Morrow County emer-
gency manager John Bowles
said his county doesn’t have the
resources of some of the larger
counties in the state, but they
would contribute what they
could, which might include
things like caring for livestock
rescued from the west side of
the state.
“We have the land that we
could take a chunk and throw
some sheep or cattle or horses
on it in the event of an emer-
gency,” he said.
Bowles said in the coming
months the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Department plans to
use its Facebook page and other
venues to provide educational
materials about emergency
preparedness.
According to the state’s Cas-
cadia Subduction Zone plan,
fi refi ghters, law enforcement,
engineers, building inspectors,
medical personnel and others
from the east side of the state
will also be requested to help on
the west side.
Cascadia Rising
Pacific
Continued from Page 1A
MAKE A
NEIGHBORHOOD
PLAN
recently sent a pitch to the state
arguing that Pendleton should
be the backup or secondary
location for sending supplies
and volunteers west.
“Pendleton for a lot of rea-
sons seems like a pretty logical
backup,” he said.
He pointed out that the
Pendleton Airport has a “mas-
sive” concrete apron for stag-
ing surrounded by more than a
thousand acres of fl at land to set
up camps. The airport includes
an Oregon National Guard han-
gar and armory, two runways
large enough to land a Boe-
ing 737 and a 34,000-square-
foot hangar for staging. Nearby
resources like the Pendleton
Convention Center, Round-Up
Grounds, farms and 1,400 hotel
rooms could also be utilized.
“We have a lot of food pro-
cessing in the area, whereas
they would have to ship a lot of
that to central Oregon,” Chris-
man said.
The locations would also be
more conveniently located to
ports along the Columbia River,
where supplies could be sent by
boat if bridge collapses were not
blocking the river too far east.
Coming Wednesday: Casca-
dia: Day 30.
Werner started by going
door to door and asking
his neighbors to fill out a
questionnaire that will be
compiled and redistributed
to the neighborhood. The
survey asks for contact
information, the names
and ages of people living in
the house, the location of
utility shut-offs (most fires
after earthquakes start with
natural gas leaks) and a
list of useful skills such as
medical training or plumb-
ing repair.
Werner has also created a
nine-step plan for everyone
to follow. Once they have
checked off the personal
items — such as turning
off utilities and dressing in
protective clothing — Wer-
ner asks everyone to place
a special card in the front
window indicating whether
they are OK or need help.
“If no card is visible, we will
check on them in case they
are injured and can’t reach
the window,” he said.
Next, the plan asks every-
one to report to the “neigh-
borhood care center” — in
this case, Werner’s house.
There, the neighbors will
break into teams, with
some checking on “special
needs” houses (those with
children or elderly/disabled
residents) while others
will take first aid kits out
in search of the injured or
stay at the center to listen
for updates on the NOAA
weather radio.
Werner said he would en-
courage all neighborhoods
to implement similar plans
of their own, which will
allow people to organize
and find those who need
help as quickly as possi-
ble. Businesses, church
congregations, extended
families and other groups
should also consider who
might need checking on or
how to communicate in the
event of an emergency.
Wetlands: ‘Still a lot of work to be done’ Protests: Group faced off with Portland police
Continued from Page 1A
Expecting a negative
retort, Kidd was surprised
by the man’s next question.
“Why aren’t there any more
wapato?” he said.
For more than a decade,
numerous
organizations,
including the National Park
Service, have worked to
restore wetlands in the Youngs
Bay w atershed. Kidd, an
environmental science and
resources Ph.D candidate at
Portland State University,
recently submitted her disser-
tation for review. The disserta-
tion details the progress of the
restoration effort based on her
study.
Watershed
development
Settlers near the turn of the
20th century cleared much of
the watershed for develop-
ment, building dams for irri-
gation and allowing cows to
graze. The result: 97 percent
of tidal wetlands in the water-
shed disappeared from 1880 to
the early 1990s, Kidd said.
Native wildlife and plant
species, like the wapato plant
noted in explorers Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark’s
journals, were completely
decimated.
“It lost any sense of nat-
ural diversity that would
have been there,” said Made-
line Ishikawa, a habitat resto-
ration program manager with
the Columbia River Estuary
Study Taskforce. “It was very
fl at.”
Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park’s expansion
in 2005 included roughly
100 acres of wetlands near
the Lewis and Clark River.
Since the expansion, the park
has worked with numerous
organizations, including the
Columbia River Estuary Task-
force, to restore the wetlands.
Kidd’s surveyed the results of
these projects as part of her
study.
Projects involved re veg-
etation, removing tide gates
and some levees, modifying
tidal channels, removing fi ll
material, building a bridge to
allow fi sh passage, placing
wood debris and creating and
enhancing side channels.
Return of the wapato
While wapato plants have
not returned to the wetlands
naturally as a result of the
restoration, the Park Service
planted roughly 20,000 bulbs
near Colewort Creek in late
2012 and early 2013, parks
service Chief of Resource
Management Chris Clatter-
buck said. The park is also
growing the plants at its
nursery.
The projects cost almost
$1.5 million. Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park con-
tributed 20 percent of the
funds along with numerous
other governmental and non-
profi t groups.
Topographical
diver-
sity was a key to the proj-
ects, Ishikawa said. Methods
such as creating hummocks
out of wood debris allowed
for a wider array of plant life,
avoid creating muddy fl ats and
account for future rises in sea
levels, she said.
While they expected the
land to eventually reclaim
characteristics of wetlands,
project leaders were surprised
by the speed of the restoration,
Clatterbuck said.
What remains
One thing that remains
despite the progress, how-
ever, are non-native species in
upper marshes. There, plants
such as reed canary grass and
common rush have edged out
native plants like bulrush and
wapato, Kidd said.
At the beginning of her
study, Clatterbuck asked Kidd
to determine whether one of
two things was to blame: a
lack of exposure to tidal water
or lack of salinity. For the
most part, lack of salinity was
the larger issue, Kidd’s study
concludes.
Protecting and restor-
ing seed banks in the higher
marshes would be the most
effective way to combat this
issue, Kidd said.
“As we move forward, we
need to take a more active role
in restoring these high marsh
zones,” she said.
Kidd’s study has informed
the park service’s future
design plans and has high-
lighted areas the park should
emphasize in future resto-
ration efforts, Clatterbuck
said.
“You should really try to
maximize that low marsh
even if you sacrifi ce some res-
toration in the high marsh,” he
said.
One certainty is that the
ever-changing biological and
land use changes in wetlands
owned by the park service and
throughout the Youngs Bay
w atershed will lead to more
projects and studies.
“I don’t think we’re near
the end of fi nding areas out
there that need to be restored,”
Ishikawa said. “I think there’s
still a lot of work to be done
out there.”
Continued from Page 1A
A rally in downtown Los
Angeles also drew thousands.
Demonstrators there called
attention to Trump’s crack-
down on immigration and his
party’s response to climate
change and the environment.
Organizers said they chose to
rally on the holiday as a way to
honor past presidents by exer-
cising their constitutional right
to assemble and peacefully pro-
test. They chanted: “Love not
hate makes America great.”
In Chicago, several hundred
rallied across the river from the
Trump Tower, shouting “Hey,
hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has
got to go.”
Rebecca Wolfram of Chi-
cago, who’s in her 60s, said
concerns about climate change
and immigrant rights under
Trump prompted her to start
attending rallies.
“I’m trying to demonstrate
as much as possible until I fi g-
ure out what else to do,” said
Wolfram, who held a sign that
said “Old white ladies are really
displeased.”
Several hundred demon-
strated in Washington, D.C.
Dozens gathered around the
fountain in Dupont Circle
chanting “Dump Trump” and
“Love, not hate: That’s what
makes America great.”
Dozens marched through
midtown Atlanta for a rally
named with a Georgia fl avor:
“ImPEACH NOW! (Not My)
President’s Day March.”
Hundreds of protesters
chanting “This is what democ-
racy looks like” marched
through Salt Lake City.
The Salt Lake Tribune
reports that the crowd marched
to push back against Trump and
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
About 50 people gathered at the intersection of Commercial
and Eighth streets as part of Not My President’s Day protests
nationwide Monday. “Our message is positive,” said Laurie
Caplan, an organizer of the protest through Indivisible North
Coast Oregon. “We want to keep our democracy strong.”
his administration’s stance on
such issues as the environment,
immigration, free speech and
Russia.
Some people raised signs
that said “Not My President,”
while others held up a large
American fl ag. Protester Reg
Brookings warned the crowd
that Trump is trying to divide
the country by making such
groups as immigrants the
enemy.
Portland protest
A small but unruly group of
protesters faced off with police
in downtown Portland, Oregon.
The Oregonian reports the
police confronted the crowd in
front of the Edith Green-Wen-
dell Wyatt Federal Building.
Police took some people into
custody.
Hundreds of Trump oppo-
nents and supporters turned out
in Rapid City, South Dakota.
A larger anti-Trump faction
stood on a street corner as part
of a “Not My President” pro-
test, similar to other demon-
strations being held across the
country. A group supporting the
president lined up on a differ-
ent corner at the same intersec-
tion. Police were on hand and
the groups remained peaceful.
The Rapid City Journal
reported the anti-Trump pro-
testers held up posters including
some reading, “Make Amer-
ica Think Again” and “Build
bridges, not walls.” Supporters
of the president waved Amer-
ican fl ags and held signs say-
ing “God Bless our Presidents;
Go Trump” and “Veterans for
Trump.”
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