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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2018
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: A juvenile bald eagle was recently brought to this enclosure at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast for rehabilitation. BELOW: A rehabilitated bald eagle takes flight in an enclosure.
Eagle: Center sees around six to 12 bald eagles a year
Continued from Page 1A
“I think we’re just seeing
nature take its course,” Ste-
phensen said. “It fluctuates all
the time. The populations of
different prey species change.
The predators, they reflect
that.”
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers blamed eagles
for a mass dispersal of dou-
ble-crested cormorants from
East Sand Island at the mouth
of the Columbia River in May.
At one point, 25 to 30 eagles
were observed near the col-
ony. The number of cormo-
rants roosting upstream on
the Astoria Bridge swelled.
In Washington state’s Grays
and Willapa bays, observ-
ers reported thousands of cor-
morants while the Colum-
bia River estuary was nearly
empty.
The Army Corps had
intended to spend the spring
and summer months shoot-
ing double-crested cormorants
and destroying their nests, fol-
lowing a plan set in motion in
2015 to cut the growing colo-
ny’s numbers and reduce pre-
dation of juvenile salmon.
These activities were tem-
porarily suspended after the
cormorants abandoned their
nests.
Release
The Wildlife Center of the
North Coast sees around six
to 12 bald eagles a year. The
eagle gaining back weight and
strength at the center now is
a 2 or 3-year old male whose
brown head and tail feathers
have yet to turn the distinc-
tive white that people identify
with America’s national bird.
He came to the wildlife center
by way of another rehab cen-
ter farther south.
He was found with a bro-
ken wing at the base of the
Yaquina Head Lighthouse
near Newport and was taken
to the Oregon Coast Aquar-
ium. Eventually, he landed
at the Chintimini Wild-
life Center near Corvallis.
After undergoing surgery on
his wing, the eagle entered
a long recovery period. He
was taken to the Wildlife
Center of the North Coast
because the center’s flight
enclosure is about 20 feet lon-
ger than the one Chintimini
had available.
“Any little bit helps with
an eagle,” said Mary Estes,
Chintimini’s wildlife rehabil-
itation program director.
The eagle will be released
near the end of the month at a
known bald eagle winter roost
site off U.S. Highway 30 near
Knappa.
“He’s old enough that he’ll
probably keep away from
the other eagles,” Saranpaa
said. “If he was fresh out of
the nest, we would have some
concerns. Since he came in
at 2 or 3 years old, he’s had
some time out in the wild to
learn to be an eagle.”
Wood: ‘People like the nail and bolt holes’ Rentals: Majority
of commissioners
support regulations
to various degrees
Continued from Page 1A
The project also entailed
removing about 150 wooden
pilings from the old trestle
bridge, Morrill said. Designed
to last only as long as the jet-
ty’s construction, the timbers
were not treated with creo-
sote, a toxic chemical used to
preserve wood. Bergerson was
left to decide how to dispose of
the timbers.
“When we realized the
wood was in good shape but
untreated, we started to explore
options of recycling rather
than cutting it up as firewood,”
Morrill said. “I was talking to
some local builders, and one
of them suggested I call Tobey,
and he developed a scheme.”
They brought in a mobile
mill and spent four months
processing the timbers into
boards 16 to 19 feet long and
more than 3/4-inch thick.
Some of the boards have found
their way onto the floor of a
wooden barn house under con-
struction by general contractor
Duane Clayton in Svensen.
“They wanted a barn house,
the rougher the better,” Clay-
ton said of the owners.
The house is a laboratory of
reused wood. The trestle tim-
ber flooring includes semi-
circular saw marks from the
milling process, left for char-
acter. The blue pine walls were
sourced from a forest burn in
Continued from Page 1A
Clatsop County Historical Society
Some of the pilings from a former railroad trestle used to transport boulders for the con-
struction of the South Jetty have been repurposed for home construction.
California. Structural beams
come from North Dakota. And
stairs to the second floor are
marked with bolt holes from
the underpinnings of a struc-
ture at North Tongue Point.
“I buy truckloads of old
beams all the time to make
plank floors,” Parsons said.
“People like the nail and bolt
holes.”
Parsons estimates he has
installed reclaimed flooring
at dozens of homes in Asto-
ria, with 300,000 square feet
still sitting at his warehouse in
Hillsboro.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Tobey Parsons of McGee Salvage sweeps the floors of a
new home in Svensen that utilized reclaimed wood from
pilings near the Clatsop Spit for the flooring.
Commissioner
Sarah
Nebeker, a Gearhart resi-
dent and critic of the reg-
ulations, called the city’s
rules the most extreme in
the state. Commissioner
Lianne Thompson, in turn,
pointed to the vote tally in
her rebuttal.
Nebeker and Commis-
sioner Lisa Clement took
issue specifically with the
parking restrictions in the
county’s proposed ordinance.
“I’m just so con-
fused about this,” Nebeker
said. “Why is it a safety
issue if someone is rent-
ing short-term but it’s not a
safety issue if you have five
cars and you live there full
time?”
Clement’s hesitation was
more general.
“I’m always just con-
cerned with too much regu-
lation,” Clement said, adding
Nebeker’s questions made
sense.
Lee, Thompson and Com-
missioner Kathleen Sullivan
were in favor of the parking
regulations.
“There’s a public safety
issue here, and people’s right
to own property doesn’t
supersede public safety,”
Thompson said.
Despite concerns about
county staff time and cost to
homeowners, Sullivan has
repeatedly called for per-
mit inspections every three
to four years rather than
the five-year requirement.
Thompson also supported
that sentiment.
The majority of commis-
sioners support regulations
to various degrees. The ques-
tion later this month appears
to be who, if anyone, will
budge or compromise on the
final details.
“There are some peo-
ple who come here because
they think there are no rules
and they can do whatever
they want to and they want
to behave badly,” Thomp-
son said. “If we have ways
to negotiate these things so
that we can cooperate flexi-
bly, I’m happy.”