7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018
Parks: Lewis and Clark among those to see hikes
Continued from Page 1A
to help maintain the parks and
begin to address an $11.6 bil-
lion maintenance backlog.
Annual passes at Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park
will increase from $20 to $30
by June and $35 by 2020. Day
fees per person will rise from
$5 to $7 by June and $10 by
2020.
“Every dollar spent to
rebuild our parks will help
bolster the gateway communi-
ties that rely on park visitation
for economic vitality,” Zinke
said.
Zinke thanked those who
made their voices heard
through the public comment
process: “Your input has
helped us develop a balanced
plan that focuses on modest
increases,” he said.
The maintenance backlog
“isn’t going to be solved over-
night and will require a multi-
tiered approach as we work to
provide badly needed revenue
to repair infrastructure,” Zinke
added.
Theresa Pierno, president
and CEO of the National Park
Conservation
Association,
hailed the revised plan.
“The public spoke, and
the administration listened,”
Pierno said. The plan to nearly
triple fees at popular parks was
opposed by a range of busi-
nesses, gateway communities,
governors, tourism groups,
conservation
organizations
and the public, who all ‘said
this was the wrong solution for
parks’ repair needs,” she said.
The revised fee plan is “a
big win for park lovers every-
where,” said U.S. Rep. Raul
Grijalva of Arizona, top Dem-
ocrat on the House Natural
Resources Committee.
“This is a prime example
that activism works,” Grijalva
added. “The American peo-
ple raised their concerns, par-
ticipated in the public com-
ment period and made sure
that the Trump White House
knew the proposal was unpop-
ular. If it wasn’t for the power
of the people, Secretary Zinke
would have gone ahead with
his ridiculous proposal.”
Grijalva encouraged the
public to speak out against a
Trump administration plan
to shrink some national mon-
uments and open most U.S.
coasts to oil drilling.
The plan announced Thurs-
day sets a $5 increase for all
parks that charge entrance
fees. Parks that previously
charged $15 will now charge
$20; a $20 fee will rise to $25;
and a $25 fee will now be $30.
The current $30 fee is the
highest charged by the park
service and applies to the 17
most-visited parks. More than
two-thirds of national parks
will remain free to enter.
The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton-Hammond School District will ask vot-
ers in November for $32.4 million to acquire a new mas-
ter campus out of the tsunami inundation zone and
build a middle school, part of a long-term process to
move schools to higher ground.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton: Bond
money to move out
of tsunami danger
Personnel at the Port of Astoria help dock the USS Portland.
Continued from Page 1A
Navy: Vessel to be commissioned April 21
Continued from Page 1A
Panama Canal, it arrived at
its home port in San Diego
more than a month later. It
left San Diego earlier this
week to be commissioned.
The San Antonio-class
amphibious transport dis-
places 25,000 tons, is 684
feet long and can travel up
to 22 nautical mph. It is the
third ship with the name “
Portland,” but the first to
be named exclusively for
Oregon’s largest city.
“Portland has been a
significant old port for
years and years. To never
have a ship named after
that kind of city is pretty
unusual,” Piercy said.
“This is a great ship for
Workers at the Port of Astoria wait for the USS
Portland to dock.
Portland.”
The ship features an
array of weapons systems.
It can hold two MV-22
Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft,
hovercraft, vehicles and
equipment for amphibious
operations.
San Antonio-class ships
are designed to carry 500
to 800 Marines and could
be used for amphibious
assaults, special opera-
tions, anti-piracy opera-
tions and other warfare
missions. But a 2010 U.S.
Department of Defense
report pointed to a number
of deficiencies that make
the ships unsuitable for
active combat situations.
The ship will likely be
deployed to disasters and
humanitarian crises in its
estimated 40-year lifespan.
For example, it would be
ideally suited to respond
to a Cascadia Subduction
Zone earthquake and tsu-
nami, Piercy said.
“We talk about the ‘big
one’ here in the Northwest,
and this is exactly the type
of ship that would be the
first to respond,” he said.
Managers: City hopes position improves continuity
Continued from Page 1A
Burr could not be reached
for comment about the poten-
tial change.
“Unless you have someone
working all the time to focus on
this, it doesn’t happen. I think
it will upgrade the emergency
management and resiliency of
the city,” St. Denis said. “It’s
a relatively small investment
with tremendous payback.”
While Cannon Beach has
the largest Community Emer-
gency Response Team and
Medical Reserve Corps in
Clatsop County, St. Denis said
a lack of continuity in training
and planning has slowed prog-
ress the city could be making.
He used the example of a table-
top exercise held last month
aimed at teaching hotels and
vacation rentals to prepare for
a tsunami.
St. Denis took issue with
how only a few from the hos-
pitality industry attended, how
short the exercise was and
how there appeared to be no
arrangement for following up
or reaching beyond this group
of people.
Red flags were also
raised when a tsunami watch
prompted by an Alaska earth-
quake was issued earlier this
year. The protocol for how the
city was supposed to respond
to a tsunami watch, versus
a tsunami warning, was not
clear, St. Denis said.
“I think sometimes we
assume we’re ready (for an
emergency) because we’ve
talked about it once before,”
he said.
Nancy McCarthy
Cannon Beach may hire
an emergency manager to
conduct training, follow up
with logistics like cache
supplies and coordinate
preparation policies.
St. Denis said there are
deficits in recovery and how
the city plans for lower-impact
scenarios like wind storms or
small-to-medium sized tsu-
namis. Most recent efforts
have centered around evacu-
ating people for a worst-case
scenario.
If approved by the city’s
budget committee, St. Denis
would want the emergency
manager to focus more on con-
tracts that would help the town
recover after a disaster — like
clearing and disposing debris
from the roadways.
“I think we can have a bet-
ter, clearer message … re-eval-
uate some assumptions made
in the past,” he said. “Right
now we tell everyone to walk
to South Wind. Well, that’s
not likely to be built for a long
time. But maybe if we look
at the most recent (tsunami
run-up projections) from (the
Department of Geology and
Mineral Industries), maybe we
could find some new locations
for shelters for smaller events
and prepare for that.”
St. Denis draws his
approach from his time as a
city manager in Florida, where
he was responsible for recov-
ery efforts after hurricanes.
“No one prepares for a Cat-
egory 5 hurricane — you can’t.
But even if there is a Category
5, unless you get hit right at
landfall, you’ll be facing a
Category 4, 3 or 2 and you can
prepare for those,” he said.
In general, city councilors
were supportive of the idea
of an emergency manager but
questioned how it fit with other
budget priorities like afford-
able housing.
“We’re actually making
some progress with emergency
preparedness,” City Councilor
George Vetter said. “The rea-
son we’re not making prog-
ress with affordable housing
is because we’re not putting
away any money toward it.”
But Les Wierson, an emer-
gency preparedness commit-
tee member, and Lila Wick-
ham, the head of the Medical
Reserve Corps, both spoke
about how the continuity of a
full-time emergency manager
would be helpful to commu-
nity preparedness.
“I still don’t know my
redundant
communication
plan. I still don’t know where
I’ll be treating injured people,”
Wickham said. “I think this
would be helpful.”
The City Council gave St.
Denis to go-ahead to tenta-
tively start looking for job can-
didates, but will ultimately
decide whether the position is
created during budget commit-
tee hearings next month.
“I think with $40,000 more
we’ll be getting a bang for our
buck,” St. Denis said.
everyone up to the uplands
area, but that’s not a possibil-
ity,” she said.
The school district
recently took a phone sur-
vey to gather people’s opin-
ions on a potential bond.
Although the survey only
reached an estimated 300
people, about half as many
as the district wanted, the
majority of those contacted
supported a bond measure,
Morrow said.
The school district’s
bond joins several others on
the ballot this year.
In May, voters will
decide on bonds referred
by the Clatsop Care Cen-
ter Health District; Warren-
ton for police; and the Lewis
and Clark and Clatskanie
rural fire protection districts.
Clatsop County will ask
voters in November to pay
for a $23.8 million remodel
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
4.5
%
APR*
SUB-BIDS
REQUESTED
Seaside
School District-
New Middle/
High Schools
Seaside, Oregon
of the former North Coast
Youth Correctional Facil-
ity in Warrenton into a new
county jail.
The Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District,
which covers most residents
in Seaside, will likely ask
for between $15 million and
$18 million in November to
expand the aquatic center.
The Astoria School Board
will decide in the near future
whether to pursue a bond for
school improvements. The
school district has identi-
fied more than $70 million
in facility needs, headlined
by a proposed $31 million
modernization of Astoria
Middle School and $17 mil-
lion worth of improvements
at Astoria High School.
The Seaside School Dis-
trict in 2016 passed a $100
million bond measure to
build a new master campus
out of the tsunami inunda-
tion zone.
Fibre Family Member
Kelly Short, Hammond, OR
Bid Package: #1
Site Work & Utilities
(Includes Site Work,
Utilities & Retaining Walls,
Underground Elec & Tele,
Grading & Surface
of the Gravel Road)
Bids Due:
April 26th • 2:00pm
Bid Documents:
www.hoffmancorp.com/subcontractors
www.tlcfcu.org • 866.901.3521
805 SW Broadway, Suite 2100
Portland, OR 97205
Phone (503) 221-8811
Bid Fax (503) 221-8888
BIDS@hoffmancorp.com
Hoffman is an equal opportunity employer
and requests sub-bids from all interested
firms including disadvantaged, minority,
women, disabled veterans and emerging
small-business enterprises
OR CCB#28417/LIC HOFFMCC164NC
85 W. Marine Dr. Astoria • 2315 N. Roosevelt Dr. Seaside
*Annual Percentage Rate effective
1/1/18 and subject to change.
Ten year old vehicle or newer, 120
month term at this rate.
A DIVISION OF
CREDIT UNION