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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2019)
A3 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2019 Chinook fi sherman views life afl oat as public service Wisdom from a gillnetter ‘GILLNETTERS ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO HARVEST THE LARGEST NUMBER OF FISH, THE SIZE OF NETS, TO TARGET THE FISH, AND SEPARATE THE LISTED STOCK. THEY ARE A VERY IMPORTANT TOOL ON THE RIVER.’ By PATRICK WEBB Chinook Observer CHINOOK, Wash. — Fishermen make good philosophers. Les Clark is no exception. “I have had a fantastic life,” said Clark, who turned 90 in December. “I had a lot of scrapes, but I survived all of them. All my buddies are gone. I wonder why I am still here. Maybe the good Lord needs me here to fi ght for the fi sh?” The concept of giving up his 32-foot F/V St. Frances II and not fi shing solo doesn’t arise. “I am one of the older guys still on the river,” he said. His father Gene and Anna Clark, of Chinook, set the bar. “Dad fi shed till he was 90 and died at 98, and mom went to 97,” he smiled. He recently lost his long-time fi shing and hunt- ing partner Ken Greenfi eld. Their 15- and 20-year terms in the Port of Chinook Com- mission overlapped and he enjoys reminiscing about their adventures together on the Columbia River, at Salmon Creek near Vancou- ver, and in Alaska. Clark grew up in Wash- ougal, fi shing with his father and the school superinten- dent across the river in Cor- bett . “I was a kid working on my school summer vaca- tions. I used to fi sh with my father part time, then got my own outfi t.” He married his sweet- heart, Frances, in 1955, bought a plywood skiff and spent a lucrative three weeks. “Bumble Bee Sea- foods was paying 25 cents a pound for top-grade spring Chinook. I made $5,500 — that was a lot of money in those days!” Northwest fi shing dynamics changed when the completion of The Dalles Dam fl ooded the Indian dip- Les Clark Patrick Webb/Chinook Observer Les Clark’s life as a commercial fi sherman spans decades. net grounds at Celilo Falls in 1957; Clark has fond mem- ories of bird hunting with Native Americans during that era, plus early efforts to preserve tribal and commer- cial fi shing amid changing conditions. In the early 1960s, the Clarks moved from Washou- gal to Chinook, where he and Frances raised four children. He operated his commer- cial fi shing vessel and she worked as secretary-book- keeper for the family busi- ness. Together they founded the Northwest Gillnetters Association in 1977 to help preserve the livelihoods of commercial fi shermen on the Columbia; he served as president for more than a dozen years with Frances as secretary. Clark’s calendar showed a pattern. “I put 54 seasons in Cook Inlet. In July, I went to Alaska. I spent spring and fall here, crab for 20 years, troll for 20 years, and gill- netting since 1944.” Several life-threaten- ing scrapes afl oat have been the subject of prior news- paper articles that fi ll Clark family scrapbooks. In one, he was trapped in his own net, wrapped around a giant reel, and had to be cut out by a passing fi sherman who heard his cries for help. In another, he had to swim to safety when a shrimper ran over his boat and caused it to sink. ‘Safeguards’ He has testifi ed before state commissions about fi shing policy, working with the late Sen. Sid Snyder, who served with distinction in the Washington Legislature. “I keep up with politics and the fi shing business. Our coastal economy depends a large part on fi shing — it is very important,” he said. “Our ‘savior’ used to be Sid Sny- der. He did his very best to keep things working. He was a prince of a man. He knew what everybody needed.” The 1989 Exxon Val- dez oil spill, which dev- astated habitat in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, is an ugly memory. Recalling the drunken captain who ran the giant vessel aground makes Clark’s always-cheerful face turn briefl y into an uncharac- teristic scowl. Trump offi cials blamed for slowing down nuke site cleanup By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — The slow pace of cleaning up the nation’s largest cache of radioactive waste left over from the production of nuclear weapons is frustrat- ing Washington state offi - cials from both major polit- ical parties, who blame the Trump administration for not doing more. The U.S. Department of Energy recently pro- posed hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts for cleaning up the vast Han- ford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington, even though the estimated cost of the cleanup has at least tripled and could reach more than $600 billion. “That’s a huge, huge cost increase,” said Tom Carpen- ter, director of the watchdog group Hanford Challenge. At a hearing in Washing- ton, D.C., last week, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray ques- tioned Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s assertion that his agency can still meet a legal- ly-binding cleanup sched- ule despite the proposed bud- get cuts. Much of the site’s aging infrastructure is dete- riorating, including under- ground waste storage tanks and tunnels. The Energy Department issued a report in January that raised the remaining cost of Hanford’s environmen- tal cleanup to between $323 billion and $677 billion, with the work lasting until 2079 or 2102, depending on which estimate proves true. That is much higher than the pre- vious estimate of $107 bil- lion in costs to complete the cleanup by 2066. That is “a pretty shocking number,” Perry told mem- bers of the House Appropri- ations Committee last month. Shortly after the higher estimates were revealed, the Trump administration pro- posed a $416 million cut in its budget for Hanford that would reduce it from about $2.5 billion for the fi scal year ending in September to $2.1 billion for the next fi scal year that starts in October. U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, whose district encompasses the site, said the adminis- tration’s “budget request numbers would fall short of fulfi lling the federal govern- ment’s obligation to clean up the Hanford site.” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, estimated it will take 300 years to clean up the site under the Trump administration’s proposed budget. “Trump’s combination of bad math and shifty word- play adds up to tragicomic incompetence,” said Wyden, a frequent critic of efforts to clean up the site. Washington state offi - cials have said previously — even before the cuts were announced — that the federal government has not provided enough funding to meet annual cleanup costs. They have suggested that least $3 billion annually is needed. “We believe that the lack of adequate funding trans- lates into a longer, more drawn-out cleanup, and that in turn is a signifi cant fac- tor in the increased cost of the total cleanup,” said Alex Smith, manager of nuclear waste programs for the Washington Department of Ecology. Hanford was created by the Manhattan Project during World War II as the nation raced to build atomic bombs. The plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of the war was made at the site, which then produced about 70% of the plutonium for the U.S. Cold War arsenal. That left the country’s largest volume of radioac- tive waste at the site about half the size of Rhode Island, where the most dangerous 56 million gallons of waste is stored in 177 giant under- ground tanks, some of which have leaked. WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Astoria Warrenton Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival Presenting Sponsor “We need oil, but we need better safeguards pro- tecting the environment,” he said, noting that there are similar fears for propos- als for expanded coal and oil transportation on the Colum- bia. “These people are ‘big- money people.’ We need the industry, but we need safeguards.” As a gillnetter, he is delighted at the latest head- lines about rights to fi sh being restored after a period of severe restrictions. He is a strong supporter of hatcher- ies and the use of scientifi c methods to help preserve salmon. To rebuild diminished runs, gillnetters must be allowed to return, he said. “Gillnetters are the only ones that have the capacity to har- vest the largest number of fi sh, the size of nets, to tar- get the fi sh, and separate the listed stock,” he said. “They are a very important tool on the river.” Life afl oat as a fourth-gen- eration fi sherman is satisfy- ing, Clark said. “You live with fi shermen on the river. You get to know them. You’re not working at the mill, you are your own boss and you work extra hard. “But in between runs you have time to do other things. You wouldn’t work that hard for someone else!” A hip replacement fi ve years ago barely slowed him. “My doctor did not want me to continue, but fi shing has been my life and I told him, ‘One way or another I am going to go back on the boat,’” he said. The doctor acquiesced, but reportedly warned him not to jump off the vessel. “I have excellent mobility and heal fast. I was ready to climb the walls — and three weeks later I was on a boat fi shing.” His swift recovery in his mid-80s surprised his medical team. “The doctor said, ‘You’re going to be the poster child!’” That quick-healing phy- sique has some additional help, of course. “I have more hydraulic power. That’s why I can fi sh alone!” he smiled, reveal- ing one secret to his longev- ity. “All my equipment is all paid for, but if you can’t go fi shing it’s not worth nothing. “We have had fi ghts before — nothing stays the same. You have to be pre- pared. I bought gear when others were selling.” Philosophy He lost Frances to cancer in late 2016. Their family includes daughters, Karen Gray and Cheryl Rais- takka, sons, Lee Clark and Steve Clark, plus grand and great-grandchilden. Karen Gray acknowl- edged that her father attri- butes his longevity to genes, but his healthy lifestyle has helped considerably. “He was always very active his whole life, way before peo- ple touted the benefi ts of exercise and a good diet. He also sleeps very well.” Growing up, Lee and Steve took to the water eas- ily and learned the ropes from a skilled teacher. “They have fi shed a lot of the same places, and they are always in close proximity, in the Columbia River, here at the mouth, and up in Alaska,” Gray said. “They watch him and always know where he is — they watch a little closer, check in with him and help load his fi sh.” When not on his boat, Clark enjoys taking his shot- gun to Chinook and Knappa gun clubs. “I’m very lucky,” he said. “The neighbors all around me are gone. I am the last living there.” Amid rugged work afl oat, a lifetime fi sherman has time to think. Clark’s philosophy connects dots to form a sin- cere conclusion. “The public owns the whole resource — and the gillnetters harvest fi sh for the public,” he said, thought- fully. “I suppose I am a ‘pub- lic servant.’” 2018-19 | 29TH SEASON COLUMBIAFORUM Tuesday, April 16, 2019 • 6 P . M . Winning the war on Cancer: Immunotherapies, early detection and community action Dr. Sancy Leachman Chair, Department of Dermatology Oregon Health Sciences University Leachman is passionate about fighting the “War on Melanoma” and has led the effort in building one of the largest national melanoma patient registries in Oregon. In line with the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute’s focus on the early detection of cancer, Leachman and team have developed a mobile phone app, MoleMapper, which tracks moles and their change and growth over time. MoleMapper will help to gather data for melanoma research and, potentially, impact health outcomes in individuals at risk. Sancy Leachman, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist who chairs the Department of Dermatology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and is the director of the Melanoma Research Program at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is a dermatologist using basic science research and state-of- the-art technology to combat skin cancer. When not working, Leachman spends time with her husband and two children in outdoor pursuits including hiking, skiing, backpacking and exploring the Pacific Northwest. Columbia Forum Sponsors: • The Daily Astorian • OSU Seafood Laboratory • Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa • Craft 3 • KMUN-FM COLUMBIAFORUM 2018-19 RSVP by Friday, April 12, 2019 Celebrate the delicious bounty of the Oregon Coast April 26, 27 & 28 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds! Friday: 4 - 9pm · $15/Adult Saturday: 10am - 8pm · $15/Adult Sunday: 11am - 4pm · $10/Adult AstoriaCrabFest.com Live music on two stages! Entertainment Sponsor Visit website for more pricing info, shuttle routes, list of vendors, volunteer sign-up and more. For reservations, to become a member or be added to contact list: RSVP to 503-325-4955 or forum@dailyastorian.com Forum to be held at (new location): Chef Chris Holen’s NEKST EVENT 175 14th St., Ste 100, Astoria Next to Baked Alaska at the foot of 12th St. Use back-in parking To Attend: Members: Dinner & Lecture $25 each; Lecture only free. Non-Members: Dinner & Lecture $35 each; Lecture only $15 each Appetizers available at 6pm. Dinner will be served at 6:30pm. Lecture will begin after dinner.
