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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2017)
FIREWORKS TO LIGHT UP NORTH COAST SKIES COAST WEEKEND 144TH YEAR, NO. 260 ONE DOLLAR DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017 CONSERVATION PATROL BEAUTIFUL, BUT INVASIVE, PLANT POISED TO TAKE OVER WATERSHED Legislators strike deal on transit package Details will not be released until later By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — State lawmakers have reached an agreement on sticking points of a multi- million dollar transportation package, Gov. Kate Brown MORE said Wednesday. The details of the pro- INSIDE posal will be released later County this week, the governor said. roads: Legislators have less Clatsop than two weeks to fi nish and County starts vote on the package. The $500,000 plan includes new taxes and paving project this summer. fees and increases in other taxes and fees to fund main- Page 3A tenance and improvements to roads, bridges, transit and sidewalks. See TRANSPORTATION, Page 7A North Coast Land Conservancy/Submitted Photo North Coast Land Conservancy Stewardship Director Melissa Reich pulls policeman’s helmet at Circle Creek Habitat Reserve in Seaside. The conservancy got an $86,000 grant to tackle the invader over the next three years. By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Oregon silverspot butterfly A n ornamental renegade is perfectly poised to take over the Necani- cum Watershed in southern Clat- sop County Five years ago, no policeman’s helmet — so named because its fl owers resemble an old-fashioned British bobby helmet — bloomed along the Necanicum River or its tributary creeks . Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. Local conservationists are confi - dent they can slow — and even stop — this invasion, but they have had to hit the ground running. Last year, the North Coast Land C on- servancy landed an $86,000 grant from Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to aggressively address the invader over the next three years. This year, the battle began. They are now six months into the effort to eradicate the plant . The battle plan involves a partner- ship between the land conservancy and the Necanicum Watershed Council; an intern crew dedicated solely to tracking the plant’s progress and removing it wher- ever they fi nd it; a mobile, volunteer scout- ing party fl oating the river in kayaks and armed with smart phone apps to map where they see plants; and a host of dogged vol- unteer weed-pullers. “I think we defi nitely needed to have all hands on deck for this one,” said Melissa Reich, the land conservancy’s stewardship director. See PLANT, Page 7A Silverspot butterfl ies get two new spots to grow Nestucca Bay, Saddle Mountain on the map By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Niecierpek Gruczlolwaty/Submitted Photo Policeman’s helmet in bloom. These pretty plants chokes out native species. STEWARDSHIP DAY The North Coast Land Conservancy is holding a stewardship day July 8 to pull police- man’s helmet in the watershed and at the Circle Creek Habitat Reserve. For more informa- tion, call the land conservancy at 503 -738-9126 or the Necanicum Watershed Council at 503 -717-1458, or visit nclctrust.org/pull-pile-stomp To find out about native plant alternatives, local landscapers that specialize in native plant landscapes or to find nurseries that stock native plants, e-mail Melyssa Graeper at necanicumwatershed@gmail.com To release an Oregon silverspot butter- fl y caterpillar, biologist Anne Walker takes it out of a little Tupperware container and sets it gently on its preferred food, the spade- shaped leaves of the early blue violet. It’s not as precarious as it sounds. “They’re very adapted to their environ- ment,” said Walker, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a silverspot expert. “They hide.” She’s seen released caterpillars dive down and seemingly disappear in moments. Somewhere down there, she knows, they are starting to munch on the fi rst of the roughly 200 violet leaves they will each need to eat to survive to adulthood. See BUTTERFLIES, Page 7A Astoria YMCA is a Diamond in the Rough State grant will help restore building facade By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian The former Astoria YMCA in the city’s downtown historic district is getting a makeover. Building owner and local entrepreneur Noel Weber announced he has received a $20,000 grant from the Ore- gon State Historic Preserva- tion Offi ce’s Diamonds in the Rough p rogram . The grant will help fund work to restore or reproduce several architectural elements on the 103-year-old build- ing’s facade including installa- tion of an iron railing above the 12th Street entrance; restoring the original second -story win- dow rough openings, as well as installing new windows; and molding, casting and installing reproductions of lintel details. The grant accelerates the remodeling process, Weber said. Without it, the work would have likely been put off for another year. “It really helps out a tremendous amount,” he said. Weber is a designer and fab- ricator from Boise, Idaho. He came to Astoria to be closer to his sister and her family. He hadn’t planned to buy the YMCA, but walking around the building it seemed like a fun project, he said. “It seemed right.” Varied history The building’s 14,000- square-feet have been many things over the years. As a YMCA, it was a place for Asto- rian’s to gather and interact. In recent decades, it has served as a private school and art stu- dio. Now, it houses the Astoria Design Studio, run primarily by Clatsop County Historical Society See YMCA, Page 7A The YMCA building 1934.
