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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
West Coast officials tell tourists
NOT TO WORRY
about wildfires
AP Photo/Noah Berger
Hannah Whyatt poses for a friend’s photo as smoke from the Ferguson Fire fills Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, Calif., in July.
tion takes a backseat,” said
Caroline Beteta, president
of Visit California.
In a survey by the tour-
ist agency, about 11 percent
of 1,000 travelers polled
said wildfires prompted
them to cancel their trips
to California in July, a $20
million loss in that month
alone, she said, noting tour-
ists are dissuaded by fire
images. Nearly half said
they would choose another
state to visit, given active
wildfires.
But officials from the
three states stressed that less
than 1 percent of land in the
three states has been affected
by fires.
“The real crisis for the
tourism industry isn’t the fire
itself but the news coverage
and conversation around the
fire,” Beteta said. “Videos
can be alarming and cause
people to cancel their trip,
States fear
lost revenue
By LORIN ELENI GILL
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO —
Alarmed by as much as $20
million in lost tourism rev-
enue in July due to visitors’
fear of wildfires, Califor-
nia’s state tourism agency
said Thursday it is teaming
up with Oregon and Wash-
ington state to reassure
tourists it’s safe to visit.
The states formed the
West Coast Tourism Recov-
ery Coalition to remind
tourists that the fires have
hit mostly rural areas, so
will likely not affect their
vacations, despite recent
blazes that have clogged
skies with smoke.
“As we shift into crisis
recovery mode, competi-
particularly
international
trips.”
Hospitality businesses in
and near California parks,
such as popular Yosemite
National Park, are still reel-
ing from a three-week clo-
sure during the park’s peak
visitor season. The park
reopened on Aug. 14 and the
fire that threatened Yosemite
Valley is fully contained. In
nearby Madera County, offi-
cials estimate they’ll lose
$10 million this year due to
the prolonged closure of a
main artery into the park.
Oregon also lost $51 mil-
lion in tourism revenue last
year, according to a 2017
wildfire study by Travel
Oregon.
“Fire and smoke may not
care much about state lines,
but we do care about the
experience and the percep-
tion that it’s inaccessible due
to the fires,” Travel Oregon
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
A girl works on a drawing next to an unused viewing
scope as a smoky haze obscures the Space Needle
and downtown Seattle in August.
CEO Todd Davidson said.
The group says it will
work together to commu-
nicate with tourism busi-
nesses, residents and visi-
tors, but officials said there
is no ad campaign planned
yet.
Washington state tourism
officials said the number of
trips canceled to their state
has not been severe, rather,
most tourists are adjust-
ing their schedules. But
tour companies have can-
celed trips to protect cus-
tomers’ health from poor
air quality, said Shiloh Bur-
gess, co-chair of Washington
Tourism Alliance.
Air quality conditions
are improving in the Seat-
tle region after days of
unhealthy smoke and haze.
Air quality was also a con-
cern in eastern Washington,
as the state has endured a
second straight summer of
unhealthy, smoky air from
wildfires.
In California, Cal Fire
firefighters are gaining
ground in the battle against
fires in Northern Califor-
nia affecting the counties of
Shasta, Trinity, Mendocino,
Lake, Colusa and Glenn.
The fires have burned more
than 1,000 square miles
combined to date this year.
Air quality in San Francisco,
Oakland, and Yreka contin-
ued to be at unhealthy lev-
els as of Thursday after-
noon, according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
Associated Press writer
Chris Grygiel in Seattle also
contributed to this report.
Measure requiring voter approval of tolls moves forward
Capital Bureau
Backers of a proposed bal-
lot initiative that would require
voter approval for tolls on
existing roadways, bridges or
freeways say they’ve turned in
1,465 signatures on petitions
to qualify for a ballot title for
2020.
The signatures were sub-
mitted Thursday to the Secre-
tary of State’s Office.
Initiative Petition 10,
amending the state Consti-
tution, would require voter
approval for tolling exist-
ing roadways but would not
require it if the tolls are used
to pay for “new net capacity”
on the road or bridge on which
the toll is assessed. For exam-
ple, under the initiative, the
state could toll new lanes on
Interstate 5 without seeking
approval from voters, but if the
state wants to toll the existing
lanes, voter approval would be
required.
The language in IP 10
defines “new net capacity” as
the “expansion of transporta-
tion infrastructure which did
not exist prior to Jan. 1, 2018,
and which has not been con-
verted from a previous form
of transportation infrastruc-
ture which has already been
built and or operates with pub-
lic dollars.”
The Oregon Transporta-
tion Commission voted unan-
imously this month to seek
federal approval for tolling
Interstates 5 and 205 through
the Portland area and to study
creating a seamless loop of
tollways around the city.
Commissioners
autho-
rized the Oregon Department
of Transportation to analyze
the feasibility of tolling I-5,
I-205, Interstate 405, Interstate
84, U.S. Route 26, State High-
way 217 and sections of U.S.
Route 30. The tolled segments
of each interstate would form
a loop around the city to pre-
vent diversion onto neighbor-
hood streets and to maximize
the reduction of congestion,
Commissioner Sean O’Hol-
laren said.
Backers of IP 10 say
the process needs more
accountability.
“There are too many spe-
cial interest groups that see
tolling as a new revenue-rais-
ing mechanism, a giant piggy
bank for uses unrelated to
building new freeway capac-
ity,” state Rep. Julie Parrish,
R-Tualatin/West Linn, said in
a prepared statement. “IP 10 as
written ensures that roads get
built, and revenues collected
beyond building new infra-
structure remains for future
maintenance of the roads.”
Qualifying for a ballot title
is the first step in the process
of putting the measure before
voters.
There will be a
gathering at the
4Z Ranch
Saturday
September 8th
@ 2 pm
to bless
April’s soul
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