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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 Seaside Aquarium Humpback whales were spotted in Seaside Saturday. Humpback whales spotted in Seaside Submitted Photo By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian Two elk were killed after a collision with an aircraft at Nehalem Bay State Park on Saturday. Pilot hits elk during landing in Nehalem The Daily Astorian NEHALEM — A pilot landing his single-engine plane Saturday at the Nehalem Bay State Park airstrip hit and killed two elk. Oregon State Police said the pilot was Todd William Rud- berg, 49, from Shoreline, Wash- ington. Valerie Anne Villacin, 43, of Seattle, was a passenger. The plane was totaled in the crash, according to state police, but Rudberg and Villacin were not injured. State police said Rudberg had landed his 2003 Vans Air- craft RV8 at about 5:15 p.m. and was slowing down when an elk ran in front of the plane. The pilot, according to state police, tried to speed up and fly over the elk, but struck the animal with the propeller and right side landing gear. Another elk was hit by the left wing of the plane before the aircraft spun around and stopped. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash. Associated Press PORTLAND — State offi- cials say more than 1 million fish are being evacuated from the Cascade Hatchery because of the threat of debris from a wildfire burning in the Colum- bia River Gorge. The Oregonian reported that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said about 1.65 million coho salmon and 132,000 spring Chinook salmon would be evacuated. Officials say rain in the Columbia River Gorge over the coming days could cause mud- slides and increased debris in the water that could clog screens on the hatchery’s water intake and cut off water to the fish. Submitted Photo About a million coho salmon will be moved to the Leaburg Hatchery where they will remain until they are released into rivers next spring. The remaining fish will be sent to the Leaven- worth National Fish Hatch- ery, Willard National Fish Hatchery and Sandy Fish Hatchery. New wood products may impact forest management, wildfires By ERIC MORTENSON EO Media Group Could a revival of Ore- gon’s timber industry reduce the fuel load in public forests and ease the blistering wildfires that choked much of the state in smoke the past few weeks? At this point it’s an intrigu- ing question without a simple answer. But it arises as univer- sity researchers and industry officials explore advanced wood products such as cross-lami- nated timbers — called CLT — and mass plywood panels, which can support multistory wooden buildings, even mod- est high-rises. Only two west- ern Oregon mills and a hand- ful of others nationally make the products, but they appear to hold promise. For one thing, the massive beams and panels can be made with small-diameter logs, the very type crowding forests and contributing to the explosive growth of the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge and the much larger Chetco Bar Fire in the Kalmiopsis Wilder- ness in the southwest corner of the state. A recent report by Oregon BEST, a quasi-public entity that funds clean technology startups and links entrepreneurs to uni- versity researchers, said CLT and related mass timber man- ufacturing could create 2,000 to 6,100 direct jobs in Oregon. Income generated from those jobs would range from $124 million to $371 million a year, according to the report.. Oregon BEST said Oregon and southwest Washington are “poised as a manufacturing hub for the emerging Cross Lam- inated Timber market in the United States.” Pacific North- west forests could easily and sustainably supply the wood needed for production, the report said. People working in the field issue a cautionary, “Yes, but.…” “In theory, it makes a lot of sense, but it requires for the forests to be actively managed in that way, and an outlet for that wood to be taken up,” said Timm Locke, director of forest products for the Oregon Forest Research Institute, an organiza- tion founded by the state Leg- islature to enhance collabora- tion and inform the public about responsible forest management. Locke said the public for- ests most in need of restoration and thinning work are east of the Cascades, where much of the milling infrastructure has “disappeared.” It doesn’t make economic sense to move poor quality trees from Eastern Ore- gon to mills in western Oregon, he said. SEASIDE — Humpback whales were spotted Satur- day feeding on bait fish for hours in Seaside Cove, the Seaside Aquarium reported. Humpbacks are not unusual to the Oregon Coast but they tend to stay offshore for the most part, said Tiffany Boothe, of the aquarium. The whales come into the cove when bait fish are plentiful, usually during the months of July through September. This year there have been reports all over the Ore- gon and Washington coasts of humpbacks feeding near shore, Boothe said. They can One of the elk killed after a collision with an aircraft at Nehalem Bay State Park. Fish moved due to Gorge fire “We need to be thinking about what’s stopping us at this stage,” Locke said. “What are the issues there?” One of them, he said, is a lack of trust between indus- try and the public land agen- cies — principally the U.S. For- est Service and Bureau of Land Management. Mills that once depended on logs from public forests were “burned” when the timber harvest was drastically reduced due to lawsuits and pol- icy and regulatory changes over threatened species. travel in groups but for the most part they are very small groups two to six animals. Humpback whales endure the longest migration route of any mammal, she said. Humpbacks seen along the Oregon Coast travel 3,000 miles between their feeding and breeding grounds. They have been known to com- plete this journey in as little as 36 days. Alongside the whales were brown pelicans, harbor seals, California sea lions, harbor porpoises, west- ern gulls, terns, grebes and sooty shearwaters. They are feasting on anchovies and the birds and the sea lions are following the fish — not the whales. “The fish is the important part,” Boothe said. “Without the fish none of the activity that we saw today at the cove would be happening.” Whales, birds drawn to Cove by bait fish Coast Guard rescues two from boat off Coos Bay Associated Press COOS BAY — The Coast Guard rescued two people Sunday night after a fish- ing vessel took on water near Coos Bay. The Coast Guard says it dispatched a crew from Sta- tion Coos Bay after getting a JOIN US FOR THE request from mariners aboard the Car Tanya that the boat was losing power. The Coast Guard crew delivered a dewatering pump to the 58-foot fishing vessel and provided an escort until it lost power. The crew then towed the vessel 13 miles back to Coos Bay. The Car Tanya lost radio communications during the tow, so the Coast Guard pro- vided it with a hand-held radio. A post-rescue inspection found the fishing vessel to be in bad shape. It has been ordered to remain in port until repairs are made. PATRIOT HALL GRAND OPENING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th 5 PM TO 8 PM FREE W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 y p p Ha y a d th r i B l e a ich M s e m is r Ja r Ha HORSE OWNER’S WORKSHOP a FREE EVENT at BRIM’S Farm & Garden T UESDAY , S EPTEMBER 19 TH 6:00 - 8:00 PM Join us for cutting edge information on the care and feeding of your equines. Whether you have a pasture pet or working partner, there is much to know about caring for equines. We will be introducing Purina’s new gastric care product called Outlast™. Hoof care, weight management and Q&A. Door prizes, refreshments, samples, coupons! 34963 Hwy 101 Bus., Astoria 1mile south of old Youngs Bay Bridge 503-325-1562 FALL TERM BEGINS Monday, September 25 th 'PEXWST'SQQYRMX]'SPPIKIMWEREJ½VQEXMZIEGXMSRIUYEPSTTSVXYRMX]MRWXMXYXMSR%(%EGGIWWMFPI I got screened. Now it’s your turn. Gretchen Darnell Seaside, Oregon Colorectal cancer is the #2 cancer killer. But screening can prevent it or catch it early when it’s highly treatable. Talk to your doctor today about getting screened. COLORECTAL CANCER The cancer you can prevent. www.TheCancerYouCanPrevent.org OPEN: MON-SAT • 9AM-5:30PM www.brimsfarmngarden.com A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded campaign