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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017
THE GREAT AMERICAN SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017
Eclipse: Celestial event happened during busy month
Continued from Page 1A
“It’s eerily quiet,” said
David Horning, wildland fire
supervisor at the state Depart-
ment of Forestry’s Astoria
office, on Sunday.
Fire was a major con-
cern leading up to the eclipse
— and, with the mass of peo-
ple traveling to Oregon, emer-
gency responders worried
about traffic gridlock that
would not only increase fire
danger but also make it almost
impossible to move crews,
fire engines and equipment to
where they were needed.
In Clatsop County, out of
the path of totality, state and
local officials mostly worried
about fire and emergency sit-
uations that could occur in
the days before and after the
eclipse when people were trav-
eling to and from their viewing
locations. Local forestland and
campground managers pro-
hibited all campfires, and the
Astoria Department of For-
estry Office began staging
crews and equipment at key
spots across the county last
week.
One firefighter stationed
near the county’s southern bor-
der was prepared to camp for
several days in case traffic was
so bad that it didn’t make sense
for him to return to the office
each day.
By Sunday, the whole thing
felt more like a test run for this
weekend’s Hood to Coast relay
than a response to the eclipse.
When fire crews near For-
est Grove asked for assistance
with a wildland fire there, the
Astoria Department of For-
estry office was easily able to
People start to gather at the Astoria Column for the solar
eclipse on Monday morning. The location proved to be a
popular place for viewing the phenomenon.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People gaze up at the sky near the Astoria Column on Monday morning for the solar
eclipse. Hundreds of people flocked to the iconic landmark to witness the event.
send a few people down.
In Astoria, businesses
downtown were no busier than
they normally would be during
a summer weekend. Area
campgrounds were full or near
capacity — as they are every
August, eclipse or no eclipse.
The celestial event hap-
pened right near the end of a
busy month, beginning with a
beach volleyball tournament
in Seaside the week before and
Hood to Coast this coming this
weekend. The popular recre-
ational Buoy 10 fishery has
drawn hundreds of anglers to
the area all month long.
On a whim
People who wanted to
experience the full eclipse had
already traveled south to watch
it glide along the path of total-
ity. Those who remained to
watch it at North Coast land-
marks — the Astoria Col-
umn, Peter Iredale shipwreck
and Haystack Rock — were
largely a mixture of locals and
vacationers who happened to
be passing through the area.
Libbie Stobely and Jeff
Skinner of Seattle made reser-
vations at the Hallmark Resort
and Spa in Cannon Beach a
year in advance. Regulars at
the hotel, the two did not con-
sider booking a room in the
path of totality.
When pondering whether
they should have made plans
inside the path or away from
possible cloud cover, both
had the same response: “Who
cares?”
Others,
like
Tom
Chmielewski and Sharon Rus-
sel, of Madeira Beach, Flor-
ida, ended up making their
eclipse plans on a whim. They
were visiting Astoria as part
of a two-week West Coast trip
celebrating their upcoming
30th anniversary. Though they
knew of the eclipse, it didn’t
factor much into the plans they
made Monday morning.
“We stumbled upon this
and we said, ‘Let’s go see the
totem!’” Chmielewski said.
Later that day, they witnessed
the eclipse from the Astoria
Column.
Tom Barnum of Astoria had
already witnessed the 1979
Porsche Brunzell, left, and Juliette Moore, right, prepare for
the solar eclipse at the Astoria Column. The two had a spot
staked out early in the morning and were soon joined by
many others who chose the location to witness the event.
eclipse, and he considered
traveling south. Instead, he and
his wife parked their camping
chairs and took photos from
the Column.
Maybe they will someday
witness the total eclipse as part
of a foreign vacation, Barnum
said. “I’d rather go to Australia
than Albany.”
John Day: Next total solar eclipse
in Oregon won’t happen until 2108
Continued from Page 1A
Claire Withycombe/Capital Bureau
Gov. Kate Brown, a former Campfire Girl, chats with Girl Scouts at the Oregon Capitol
before the total solar eclipse Monday morning.
Capitol: Gov. Brown hosted a group
of Girl Scouts from around Oregon
Continued from Page 1A
Olle Frykstam, 23, came to
Salem with a group of other
amateur astronomers from his
home country, Sweden. At 9
a.m., just over an hour before
the sun was due to be obscured,
Frykstam said, “I hope for total
darkness.”
He got his wish.
Gov. Kate Brown hosted
a group of Girl Scouts from
Salem and Woodburn and
other guests — ranging from
the state forester to the sec-
retary of state — for a morn-
ing eclipse viewing party on a
terrace outside her ceremonial
office.
Brown said guests had
converged on the capitol ter-
race from places as far-flung
as Chile, Peru and “the state
south of Oregon.”
After she was presented
with a special commemorative
stamp, Brown and her guests
took in the eclipse.
Things grew quiet as
the air cooled and the moon
began to obscure more of the
sun.
During the event itself,
though, crowds at the Capitol
Mall and nearby Willamette
University could be heard
making noise. The Girl Scouts
screamed.
“The sun is winning!”
said Secretary of State Den-
nis Richardson as the moon
continued its journey. People
applauded and cheered after
the darkness lifted.
Afterward, Brown appeared
in awe.
“It is a euphoric feeling,”
Brown said. “It was absolutely
stunning. There is no way to
describe it in words.”
watchers who made the trip to
witness the once-in-a-lifetime
event. A large crowd gathered
over the weekend at the city’s
airport industrial park, where
campers reserved their spots
months in advance to expe-
rience the eclipse in its full
glory.
According to travelers, it
was well worth the trip.
Mike Ziemke, of Merrill,
Wisconsin, drove two full
days to John Day where he
met his friend, Chuck Stew-
art, of Vancouver, Wash-
ington. The two astronomy
buffs settled in Wednesday
and spent every night star-
gazing through their tele-
scopes and eagerly awaiting
Monday’s eclipse.
Ziemke, who watched
the 1979 total solar eclipse
from his home in Wisconsin,
described the experience as
life-changing.
“It’s something that’s just
unbelievable,” he said. “To
think of all the people across
the country coming together
today, just to watch …
you’ve got all walks of life.”
Kevin Knowles, an
astronomy teacher at Mount
Si High School in Sno-
qualmie, Washington, wore
his enthusiasm on his sleeve
— literally — with not one,
but two shirts adorned in
planets and galaxies. He
said he first heard about
the eclipse in March while
attending the National Sci-
ence Teachers Association
conference in Los Angeles
and made his arrangements.
“I would have loved to
have this a few weeks later
so I could have brought my
whole class,” Knowles said.
“Definitely, this brings alive
everything I teach.”
For others, traveling to
the path of totality was a
last-minute decision. Patri-
cia Johnson, of Sacramento,
California, drove up to Ore-
gon with her adult son, Edek
Sher, who was home visiting
from Rhode Island.
The two were not able
to find eclipse glasses on
such short notice anywhere
in Northern California. For-
tunately, they were able to
stop at the Powerhouse Sci-
ence Center in Sacramento,
where they learned how to
make their own using paper
and popsicle sticks. The cen-
ter also provided the proper
viewing lenses.
“We were embarrassed,”
Johnson said with a smile.
“But we wanted to come
prepared.”
A number of visitors trav-
eled not just cross-country,
but across an ocean to see
the uniquely North American
event. Bart Verbrugge and
his wife, Véronique, came
all the way from their native
Holland with their two chil-
dren, Isabel, 11, and Jurien,
9.
Bart Verbrugge said he
has witnessed two other
solar eclipses in his life —
one in northern France and
the other in Zambia, Africa.
But he wanted to be able to
share the experience with his
kids, so they flew together to
Vancouver, British Colum-
bia, about three weeks ago
for vacation and made their
way to John Day by Friday.
“We wanted to show the
kids this awesome experi-
ence,” he said. “I just want to
share with them this magical
moment.”
Bernd Schatzman also
flew in to the U.S. from Ger-
many, where he met friends
in Los Angeles before com-
ing up to the path of totality
together.
The feeling of watching
an eclipse is incomparable,
he said.
“It’s like some spe-
cial kind of gray darkness,”
Schatzman explained. “At
the same time, the sun gets
this silvery kind of shine.”
After totality, some at the
industrial park decided to
stay while others hit the road
right away. Worries of severe
traffic backups were perhaps
overblown, according to Tom
Strandberg with the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion, who said only minor
delays were reported along
highways 395 and 26.
“It’s actually been a lot
calmer than we anticipated,”
he said. “People seem to be
behaving, for the most part.”
The United States will not
experience another total solar
eclipse until 2024, and Ore-
gon will not see another until
2108, when one is expected
to graze along the coast.
Trees: ‘It’s not like in five years these trees will be the same trees’
Continued from Page 1A
Director Angela Cosby, and
is a way to provide “intel-
ligent stewardship,” added
Dart-McLean.
“We’re going to be playing
catch-up for probably a year
or two,” Cosby said, adding
that, in the long run, the inven-
tory will save the department
money.
This is good news for a
parks department plagued
by financial woes in the
recent past.
“I’m glad to hear some
positive news from the parks
department,” City Councilor
Zetty Nemlowill said.
While the department’s
facilities, responsibilities and
costs have grown over the
years, its revenue and full-time
staff have not kept pace. Cosby
has had to cut some programs
and considered closing the
Aquatic Center this summer.
Over the past six months, the
City Council discussed numer-
ous ways to sustain the parks
department into the future,
finally settling on an increase to
the lodging tax as the main way
to bring in more money.
A master plan finalized last
year was an attempt to focus the
parks department’s efforts and
resources. The department had
no system in place before that
to guide how it developed exist-
ing parks or established new
ones. As a result, some parks
and projects slipped through
the cracks over the years.
It was a similar story with
the trees, too. Park staff dealt
with obvious problems —
safety hazards created by fallen
trees or the issues with the Vio-
let LaPlante maple — but had
no overall sense of tree health
or maintenance needs across
the city’s parklands.
The parks department is in
the process of hiring a grounds
coordinator. The coordinator
will be required to obtain arbor-
ist certification 18 months after
being hired, and continue the
work highlighted in the inven-
tory. Though the department
will likely continue to contract
out big and more complex proj-
ects, Cosby said more projects
can be completed in-house with
a trained arborist on staff.
The comprehensive inven-
tory also came with software
to help the department track a
given tree or, in heavily wooded
areas like Cathedral Tree Trail
where identifying each individ-
ual tree wasn’t possible, a rep-
resentative sample of an area.
Park staff can use this software
to constantly update informa-
tion about the trees.
After all, Dart-McLean
pointed out, the inventory is
a snapshot of a certain point
in time in the lives of these
trees. In five years — or even
after winter storms this year —
everything could change.
“It’s an interesting thing
to manage for,” Dart-McLean
said. “It’s not like in five years
these trees will be the same
trees.”