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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2018)
THE RICH FEAST OF INDIA WEEKEND BREAK PAGE 1C VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 1 CHRONICLING JOY OF BUSINESS IN COLUMBIA-PACIFIC REGION JANUARY 2018 PROUDLY PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH Discovery Ride Shop owner Patrick McCash (left) has been selling Onewheel electric skateboards since December, an idea fi rst inspired by local teen Cody Huff (right). McCash describes the experience as a combination of surfi ng and snowboarding. PHOTO BY LUKE WHITTAKER 145TH YEAR, NO. 139 WEEKEND EDITION // FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2018 ONE DOLLAR County might take action on vacation rentals Disagreements persist on parking, inspections By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian A juvenile male bald eagle sits atop a perch at an enclosure at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. RETURNING TO THE WILD An eagle finds his wings again at wildlife center By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian he bald eagle fixes one fierce eye on the meddlesome people below him. He squawks at them, a plaintive and undignified sound. Then they move, and so does he, taking off in a smooth swoop across the flight enclosure. It is his fifth or sixth run back and forth and he almost knocks his tail feathers against the branches of a tree in the middle of the enclosure. “He’s getting tired,” said Josh Saran- paa, executive director of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. But this is the eagle’s CrossFit. When he showed up at the center to recover from surgery on a broken wing, flying the length of the enclosure was a major work- out. He would come to rest on the ground, winded. Now his increased stamina means he’s that much closer to returning to the wild. When he is released later this month, back to posing on piers or chomping down on dead whales while still looking noble, he’ll rejoin a robust population — one that seems to be reshaping bird colo- nies up and down the coast. T Rebound Poisoning by the pesticide DDT, loss of habitat and shooting contributed to a significant decline in bald eagle popu- lations across the country. By 1963, the birds were in danger of extinction. Fol- lowing decades of recovery efforts, they were finally removed from the federal endangered and threatened species list Clatsop County commissioners have reluctantly agreed to hold a hearing that could determine whether to impose vacation rental regulations. Commissioners will vote Jan. 24 on an ordinance that would require property own- ers to apply for five-year, renewable permits based on safety inspections for an unlimited number of short-term rental properties. Dis- cussions on Wednesday night revealed park- ing limits and the five-year timeline as the two remaining hangups. The permits would require property owners to comply with quiet hours, pro- vide covered garbage containers, possess at least one fire extinguisher and offer at least one off-street parking spot. Only three peo- ple per sleeping area plus two more in the entire dwelling would be allowed to occupy a residence. The hearing later this month may culminate a roughly 1 1/2 year effort by county staff, who have documented multiple complaints from residents. They estimate the ordinance would impact at least 173 property owners in unincorporated areas who rent out homes for up to 30 days, nearly double the 2010 estimate for vacation rentals. Commissioners were first handed a draft of an ordinance in June and have held three work sessions on the topic. They opted to indefinitely postpone a final vote at a similar hearing in September. The delay was due in part to Gearhart reg- ulations that were put to a vote in November, Scott Lee, the board’s chairman, said in Sep- tember. Voters rejected the ballot measure 77 percent to 23 percent, keeping the regu- lations in place. See RENTALS, Page 7A Josh Saranpaa checks the chart for an injured bald eagle that was brought to the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. in 2007. Oregon’s population grew from a mere 65 nesting pairs in 1978 to more than 500 by 2012. “The eagle population is doing very well in Oregon,” said Shawn Stephensen, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. “We’re find- ing new eagle nests all the time in new areas.” But that recovery has come with com- plex consequences. In Oregon, there was a distinct shift of common murre colonies from the northern to the central and southern coast, according to a federal research paper published in 2017. The authors — Susan Thomas with the Fish and Wild- life Service and the Washington Mari- time National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and James Lyons of the U.S. Geological Survey and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center — noted that a surge in bald eagle populations in the Puget Sound region could set off a chain of events that may restructure that food web. Murres, a seabird common to the region, are often the prey of bald eagles, though eagles are scavengers and will eat just about anything. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian See EAGLE, Page 7A Gearhart voters upheld vacation rental rules in November. Old trestle timbers survive in house flooring Reclaimed wood a popular trend By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian SVENSEN — In the late 1800s, crews building the South Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River used a wooden trestle bridge to move large boulders to the end of Clatsop Spit. Some of those same tim- bers have found new life in the popular trend of using reclaimed wood in construc- tion, including the flooring of an elaborate new barn house in Svensen. Tobey Parsons, owner of McGee Salvage, acquires reclaimed wood flooring from old gyms, houses and other structures. He was recently connected with Greg Mor- rill, general manager of marine contractor Bergerson Construction. Bergerson in 2016 was awarded a contract to remove about 900 feet worth of jetty stones to improve fish passage into Trestle Bay near the tip of Clatsop Spit. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian See WOOD, Page 7A Tobey Parsons of McGee Salvage checks in on work to a home in Svensen that utilized reclaimed timber from the trestle bridge at Clatsop Spit.