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4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018 Pelicans: Migrate north from California, Mexico Continued from Page 1A a maximum documented life span of 43 years. “They don’t have to breed every year, but making sure they have those food resources, that’s the big story of making sure this species is going to do well into the future,” she said. It isn’t uncommon for wild- life center workers to have starving pelicans on their hands while the birds are up here. Sometimes pelicans stay north for too long, into late fall and early winter, and get stuck when food runs out. But researchers say to have young pelicans arriv- ing in Clatsop County in this condition points to issues that began earlier in the migration. The birds are also showing up later than they have in the past, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. But so are other bird species. Six to seven California brown pelicans circled Cas- tle Rock in the last seconds before 5 p.m. on Saturday. But they flew over to the far side of the large offshore rock near Arch Cape and disappeared from view so Nadia Gard- ner, an environmental advo- cate and Arch Cape resident, didn’t count them. She and other volunteers — citizen sci- entists — were keeping an eye out for brown pelicans as they returned to historic roost sites for the evening, participating in a survey up and down the West Coast. The survey is a collabo- ration between the Fish and Wildlife Service, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, state agen- cies, Audubon Society groups along the West Coast and Con- servacion de Islas. It occurs once in the spring and once in the fall in an effort to count and observe the birds across their range. The next survey is scheduled for September. Biologist Deborah Jaques, who has studied the birds on and off for decades, wants to pay more attention to the pel- icans’ nonbreeding range, which includes historic night- time roosts like Castle Rock and East Sand Island in the Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Biologist Deborah Jaques, left, and Reva Lipe take measurements of a brown pelican at the Wildlife Center of the North Coast. Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian Nadia Gardner, a local environmental advocate, leads a group of citizen scientists documenting brown pelicans and other seabirds during a recent survey. Reva Lipe and Josh Saranpaa examine a brown pelican in an enclosure. Columbia River estuary. She has created an organization that she hopes will be able to monitor roost sites on on a monthly basis. Researchers with Oregon State University study the tern colony that nests on East Sand East Sand Island isn’t just a home away from home for pelicans or a honeymoon spot for amorous terns. It also hosts a massive dou- ble-crested cormorant col- ony that has come under fire — literally — in recent years. Column: City’s policy has been to allow lighting effects only twice a year Continued from Page 1A happening in their schools to prevent that, and the people in lots of working-class con- ditions who are unable to be out in their lives and in their employment because those conditions are unsafe. “So hopefully the rain- bow on the Column will be a bit of a beacon for people in town.” Pride Week begins June 3 and marks the third such celebration in Astoria. The city’s policy has been to allow lighting effects on the Column only twice a year. However, prompted by new requests last year and the request this year from the Astoria Pride Committee, the City Council asked the Friends of the Astoria Col- umn to develop a new policy. The group already handles maintenance at the hill- top park and was interested in taking over the responsi- bility of handling lighting requests as well. But the Friends group was not able to meet and develop a draft policy in time for the City Council to review it and still be able to consider the Astoria Pride Committee’s request in time for Pride Week. The City Council opted to make an exception to the twice-per-year lighting policy and allow the Column to be lit for Pride Week while the Friends group continues working on a draft. The Friends plan to bring a draft policy to the coun- cil for consideration in July, according to Parks and Rec- reation Director Angela Cosby. The city first lit the Col- umn in 2013 — pink for breast cancer awareness month. In 2014, teal light bathed the Column to rec- ognize sexual assault aware- ness and child abuse aware- ness month. The two original colors and the two causes they represent have contin- ued to illumine the Column each year. While city councilors voted unanimously to allow the Astoria Pride Commit- tee’s request, some coun- cilors have said they would prefer the Column not be lit with different colors in the future. Councilor Cindy Price said that, in her opinion, the Column “should be treated like the Washington Monu- ment” — the marble obelisk in Washington, D.C., built to honor the country’s first president, George Washing- ton — and be lit only with white light. Councilor Zetty Nem- lowill, who was not pres- ent Monday night, said at a previous meeting that if the city was going to light the Column, councilors should stick to the policy of only lighting it twice a year. She supported the idea of allow- ing the Friends of the Asto- ria Column to handle light- ing requests. “In terms of prioritiz- ing (the parks department’s) efforts right now, lighting the Column doesn’t seem like it should be a priority right now,” Nemlowill said in March, referring to ongoing efforts to make the depart- ment more sustainable. She also thought there could be more meaningful ways to support worthy causes than lighting the Column. Mayor Arline LaMear disagreed. “If it isn’t over- used, when you look up at the Column and you see a color up there, you’re going to ask why, and I think it does bring a reason to chang- ing the color at the Column,” she said. Island. They spend some time monitoring the pelicans, too, but Jaques believes more mon- itoring is necessary to under- stand how the pelicans use the area, what they eat and what pressures they face during the time they spend here. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has management plans in place for the terns and the cormorants and has restricted their nesting hab- itat, hazed both species and spent several seasons shoot- ing adult double-crested cor- morants in an effort to control their growing numbers and protect young salmon from predation. The agency will not shoot cormorants this year, but will haze the birds and destroy nests. “They’ve come all this way, they’re relying on this northern (anchovy) stock, they need somewhere to rest,” Jaques said. “Can they rest there and what does salmon restoration and hazing of other birds (mean), how does that affect them?” East Sand Island is ideal for pelicans in many ways, McDowell said. It is located in a food-rich environment, it provides a relatively safe place to gather in large num- bers and it hosts other sea and water bird species. Several years ago, researchers reported that brown pelicans were build- ing nests on East Sand Island. None of the nests were suc- cessful, but it marked the northernmost brown pel- ican nesting activity ever recorded. “It provides a potential northern breeding habitat if southern regions become less suitable for nesting,” said Tim Lawes, an Oregon State wildlife biologist and senior faculty research assistant. Lawes echoed theories also expressed by Dan Roby, a seabird ecologist with the university, several years earlier. In 2014, Roby told reporters with Oregon Pub- lic Broadcasting the birds’ migratory patterns had been shifting northward for three decades, mirroring a shift by similar pelican species on the East Coast. The East Coast birds were also expanding their breeding range. All were changes Roby attributed to climate change. There are an estimated 70,700 breeding pairs of Cal- ifornia brown pelicans. Of the thousands that flock to East Sand Island, only three to 15 pairs have ever been seen attempting to build nests or breed there, McDowell noted. Session: Gov. Brown called a one-day special session Monday Continued from Page 1A to expand the state’s lower tax rate for “pass-through” busi- nesses to sole proprietors. Expanding the tax break will cost about $11.3 million in 2018, $11.8 million in 2019 and $12.5 million in 2020. The cost continues to increase each subsequent year, said Chris Allanach, acting legislative revenue officer. Many House Republicans criticized the governor’s deci- sion to sign Senate Bill 1528 into law and to call a special session on an issue that isn’t an emergency. “I think we can all agree that this is an emergency man- ufactured by the governor,” said state Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, who is challenging Brown in the governor’s race this year. Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eu- gene, said the bill makes an important fix. “This bill only deals with an omission from the 2013 law that will make it fairer for the businesses that choose to orga- nize as sole (proprietors),” Barnhart said. About 100 demonstrators affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Poor People’s Campaign con- verged on the Oregon Capitol steps just after noon Monday to protest the expansion of the business tax break. “We reject this special ses- sion and everything it stands for — a choice to increase the wealth and the comfort of the few at the top at the expense of those struggling at the bot- tom,” said Olivia Katbi-Smith, co-chairwoman of the Portland chapter of Democratic Social- ists of America. “It’s not time to give tax breaks to the rich; it’s time to tax the rich and invest in our communities and fully fund our state.” A special session should Paris Achen/Capital Bureau Sheena Sisk of northeast Portland, a member of the Dem- ocratic Socialists of America, plays Gov. Kate Brown in a skit during a demonstration against the governor’s leg- islation to expand a business tax break during a special legislative session in Salem Monday. This scene depicts monied special interests capturing Brown. Paris Achen/Capital Bureau Members of the Oregon Poor People’s Campaign and the Democratic Socialists of America demonstrate against Gov. Kate Brown’s special legislative session Monday. address adequate funding for education, jobs, a living wage, housing, help for immigrant and refugee communities and ending systemic racism, Kat- bi-Smith said. In 2013, lawmakers approved a lower tax rate for some “pass-through” busi- nesses, including S-corpora- tions, limited liability corpo- rations and partnerships with certain amounts of employ- ment hours and income of up to $5 million per year. At that time, sole proprietors were excluded. The governor’s bill changed that. Sen. Mark Hass, D-Bea- verton, a member of the Joint Committee on Sole Propri- etors, expressed reservations about the move to expand the current policy. He voted “no” on the bill because, he said, the effects of the exist- ing policy are not yet known and still need to be analyzed, after more time has passed and there is more data to gauge its effectiveness. “I think that’s been our problem in the last couple of years, and we’ve attempted to fiddle with this, is nobody can say for sure whether it’s freeing up capital or creating jobs or anything else,” Hass said, “And so until we have a definitive study or analysis on this it’s hard for me to support expanding it.” Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor- vallis, also voted against the bill. Rep. David Gomberg, D-Central Coast, and other lawmakers had proposed sev- eral changes to make the tax break revenue neutral and to focus on helping small busi- nesses, but none of those amendments were voted on before the legislation was moved to the floor for a vote. Gomberg had proposed amending the bill to reduce the income cap to be eligible for the tax break from $5 mil- lion to $750,000. Reducing the eligibility cap by that amount would make the expansion of the tax break largely revenue neutral, meaning it wouldn’t have cost anything, Allanach said. Gomberg’s amendment also would have reduced the requirement that businesses have at least one employee working 1,200 hours a year to 1,000 hours per year. It would have eliminated the mandatory 30-hour min- imum work week to qual- ify for the break. The 30-hour requirement excludes seasonal businesses, Gomberg said. By opening the tax break to seasonal businesses and reduc- ing the income cap, the expan- sion of the tax break would have targeted “mom and pop” businesses with lower profit margins, without cutting into state revenues, he said. In discussions with the Governor’s Office about his proposal, “there was no real resistance to it, but we’re in a time bind,” Gomberg said. The session corresponded with the beginning of the Leg- islature’s quarterly committee meetings in Salem, which are scheduled through Wednesday.