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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A pedestrian walks by the historic Tidal Rock in Astoria.
Parks: Historic designations make some sites a tougher sell
toric rock and the chair walls
— structures that tied into tun-
nels for city utilities — under
Marine Drive must remain
visible.
Johnson said the property
could be divided. The portion
of the lot that does not include
the historic features could be
sold. But the park may be of
most value to the bakery and
brewery across the street.
The city has an agreement
with artist, landscaper and gar-
dener Jessica Schleif to clean
up and renovate the park as
well as install temporary visual
art installations this year with
other collaborators.
Continued from Page 1A
If the City Council wants
to sell the parks, Rosemary
Johnson, the city’s consul-
tant and a former city planner,
recommends they direct staff
to begin the steps for selling
Birch Field, complete a relo-
cation and engineering evalua-
tion for the custom house and
contact adjacent property own-
ers about Tidal Rock.
The Post Office Park is
not a good candidate for sale,
Johnson said. Developing it
for other uses is not really
feasible and there are com-
plications because of its sta-
tus as a historic site. There is
also an adoption agreement
between the parks depart-
ment and neighboring bed-
and-breakfast owners, Pam
and Dave Armstrong, to main-
tain the site. The State His-
toric Preservation Office has
said it would not likely support
removing the park from public
ownership.
The other sites are still up
for debate, though. The parks
department has classed them
as underutilized and poten-
tially able to be developed,
Johnson wrote. She identified
Birch Field as “the most feasi-
ble to sell and redevelop.”
“It has no improvements
on the site other than a neigh-
borhood ball field configura-
tion,” she wrote, estimating
the field could accommodate a
maximum of eight single-fam-
Community opposition
The backstop at Birch Field in Alderbrook is the only visible evidence of the baseball diamond.
ily residential units as an out-
right use, or up to 16 multi-
family units with conditional
use approval. Given the field’s
proximity to four sewer out-
falls, additional city stormwa-
ter treatment facilities could
also be placed there.
Master plan
The parks department’s
2016 master plan noted that
the approximately 1-acre field
is rarely used except by neigh-
borhood dog walkers. To sell
the property, the city would
need to remove the field from
Astoria’s list of designated city
parks. Given the marshy, wet
nature of the site, Johnson also
advised having the Columbia
River Estuary Study Taskforce
review Birch Field as potential
wetlands.
The other sites, with their
historic designations and other
factors, are a tougher sell.
The customs house site,
besides featuring a historic
structure with some restric-
tions limiting what can and
cannot be done with it, also
provides a cul-de-sac access
for nearby houses and parking
for the Columbia Field base-
ball field. A major city sewer
line that serves a motel runs
on the east side of the property.
Two other nearby city sewer
Murrelets: ‘The next step has to be protecting potential,
future habitat so we can actually build on that habitat’
Continued from Page 1A
places were designated as mar-
bled murrelet habitat many
years ago. Several spots do not
appear to have been used by
the birds in five or six years.
“There’s no policy whether
to keep or get rid of those, so
now we’re treating them all
as occupied even though they
might not be,” he said.
There isn’t any known mar-
bled murrelet habitat within
the Lewis & Clark Timber-
lands managed by GreenWood
Resources, but these lands are
adjacent to the state land that
does contain nesting sites.
In the days before the Fish
and Wildlife commission’s
decision, Mark Morgans, area
manager of the Lewis & Clark
Timberlands, said an uplist-
ing would be premature at best
considering the research Ore-
gon State University is con-
ducting on the bird.
“I believe that a change in
the status of the marbled mur-
relet from threatened to endan-
gered is not warranted because
the science on the marbled
murrelet is unclear,” he said.
He pointed to data that sug-
gests murrelet populations
in Oregon may be stable and
improving and forest habitat
may not be the limiting factor.
Marbled murrelets spend
their time on coastal waters
and in bays but nest inland.
They appear to prefer trees in
old-growth and mature forests,
habitat that has become scarce.
The birds are federally listed
as threatened. In recent years,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice has predicted recovery of
the species could take decades
given the marbled murrelet’s
naturally low reproductive rate
and continued loss of nesting
habitat.
Near Arch Cape, a pro-
posed RV park across the high-
way from Arcadia Beach has
faced criticism from environ-
mental groups who fear the
development threatens mar-
bled murrelet habitat.
For Nadia Gardner, an
environmental scientist and
North Coast resident, it is cru-
cial to look at both of the envi-
ronments where the murrelets
spend their time — the forest
and the ocean.
“We have the current occu-
pied nesting habitat and old
growth — which is very little
at this point — on public lands
and not enough to sustain the
population in the long term,”
she said. “So the next step
has to be protecting potential,
future habitat so we can actu-
ally build on that habitat and
in the long term there will be
more, not less.”
She thinks it’s important to
keep climate change in mind,
pointing to shifts in the ocean
that could result in a collapse
in the food chain.
“That alone could kill them
off,” she said. “The only thing
we can do as a state is on the
land.”
Though Oregon’s version
of the Endangered Species Act
only applies to property owned
by the state government, some
private forestland owners
worry the uplisting will effec-
tively move Oregon toward
more stringent regulations for
all forests.
Bruce Buckmaster, a fish
and wildlife commissioner
from Astoria who voted against
the change, said he shared their
concerns.
“They’re old enough to
know it’s an ironclad law they
will undoubtedly be affected,”
Buckmaster said.
Commissioners originally
considered ordering the agency
to develop survival guidelines
without uplisting the species.
This proposal, set forth by
Commissioner Bob Webber,
would have had the effect of
creating a roadmap for the mur-
relet’s recovery that wouldn’t
be legally enforceable.
However, the motion
resulted in 3-3 deadlock,
after which Webber changed
his mind and supported the
uplisting.
“I stated my preference but
my least favorite option would
be to do nothing,” said Webber,
an attorney.
The federal government
listed marbled murrelets as
threatened in 1992 and Oregon
extended the same status to the
birds three years later.
Washington state and Cal-
ifornia consider the species
endangered.
Perkowski reported from
Portland.
lines that serve the entire city
run nearby. This site could also
be a good location for a storm-
water treatment facility in the
future, Johnson said.
Tidal Rock would likely
need further historic reviews
before being sold or altered
because of its archaeologi-
cal features. The sunken park
with its namesake tidal rock, a
survey monument from 1853,
cannot be filled in. The his-
A number of residents pub-
licly said they do not support
the sale of park land, wor-
rying what it means to take
green spaces out of public
ownership.
George “Mick” Hague,
who attended meetings when
the parks master plan was
being developed and finalized
in 2016, has said selling park
land goes against what peo-
ple expressed during that plan-
ning process, and against other
safeguards the city has estab-
lished to maintain diverse park
land.
The City Council is not
expected to take any formal
action Wednesday, and there is
not usually a public comment
period included during work
sessions.
Taxi: Favorite destinations
are Indian Head Beach
and Tillamook Head
Continued from Page 1A
The Thornburgs’ three chil-
dren, Ray, Lila and Kiana,
attend Seaside schools.
As full as their schedule is,
Jennifer Thornburg still man-
ages to fill in as needed, either
in the phone dispatch rotation
or as a driver.
She loves the tourists:
“They’re super-fun to deal
with.”
People come from all over
the place, she said, with a lot of
visitors from British Columbia,
along with “a lot of hikers, bik-
ers and campers.”
Favorite destinations are
Indian Head Beach and Tilla-
mook Head. “It’s on the to-do
lists. Either drop off or pick
up. In the summer it’s kind of
crazy because the road to get up
through Ecola State Park is just
busy. You know the summers
here are crazy!”
Part of their mission is to
give back to the community,
with special fares for the elderly
and $2 rides to area food banks.
The Thornburgs team with
Providence Seaside Hospital
and Project Access NOW, the
nonprofit service connecting
uninsured patients with medi-
cal care.
“The police department
works directly with us for
whatever they need. We’re
here to service our community
and be ambassadors. It’s really
important to do good for the
community.”
‘We’re here to service
our community and
be ambassadors.’
Jennifer Thornburg
Taxi driver, who runs a taxi service with her husband Ray