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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 2019)
B2 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, dEcEmbER 26, 2019 COMMUNITY BRIEFS New Year’s hikes set Oregon Parks and Recreation Depart- ment is partnering with America’s State Parks to offer free guided First Day Hikes in state parks across Oregon on New Year’s Day. A hike hosted at Oswald West State Park in Arch Cape begins at 8 a.m. from the Cape Falcon parking lot, and is a mod- erate, five-mile hike on the Cape Falcon Trail. For information, call 503-368-5943 A hike hosted at Fort Stevens State Park in Hammond starts at 10 a.m. at the Battery Russell parking lot. The usual $5 day-use fee is waived for this event. This is a moderate, two-mile hike on the Fire Control Hill Trail. Children should be at least 4 years old. For information, call 503-861-3170. On both hikes, dogs are permitted on a six-foot leash, but the terrain is not suitable for baby strollers. Participants should dress in layers, wear sturdy shoes and bring water, as well as a camera or binoculars for wildlife viewing. Hikers can register at the Oregon State Parks store, bit.ly/ParkStoreEvents. Reg- istration is encouraged, but not required. Angora Hiking Club plans New Year’s Day potluck, hike SEASIDE — Angora Hiking Club member Trung Nguyen, owner of the Seaside Lodge and International Hostel at 930 N. Holladay Drive, is holding a pot- luck lunch at noon Wednesday, followed by a mystery hike. She is providing ham and cabbage soup; anyone wishing to add something (or nothing) is welcome to join. The mystery hike starts at 1 p.m., rain or shine. Those who prefer not to hike are welcome to remain at the hostel’s music room — which has a fireplace, piano, electric organ, guitar and other percus- sion instruments — to sing/play along with karaoke. For information, call 503-738-7911 or 503-739-0243. Wickiup Senior Center hosts New Year’s Eve party SVENSEN — The Wickiup Senior Center, 92650 Svensen Market Road, is hosting a New Year’s Eve party and pot- luck at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Games and bingo follow dinner. For questions, contact Mark Tischer at 503-458-6482. — The Astorian SELF-HELP GROUPS Al-Anon (Astoria) — 7 p.m. Tuesday, Peace Lutheran Church, 565 12th St.;12 p.m. Wednesday, First United Methodist Church, 1076 Franklin Ave. For information, call 503-325-1087. Al-Anon (Clatskanie) — 7 p.m. Mon- day, Faith Lutheran Church, 1010 N.E. Fifth St., Clatskanie. For information, call 503-728-3351. Al-Anon (Nehalem) — 7 p.m. Monday, Riverbend Room, North County Recreation District, 36155 Ninth St. For information, call 503-368-8255. Al-Anon (Seaside) — 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Seaside Public Library, 1131 Broadway, call 503-810-5196 for information. Al-Anon (Tillamook) — 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, St. Albans Episcopal Church, 2102 Sixth St., call 503-842-5094 for informa- tion; 9 a.m. Thursday, 6505 Headquarter St., Tillamook; noon Friday, 5012 Third St., call 503-730-5863 for information. Al-Anon Family Groups information — Oregon Area Al-Anon website, orego- nal-anon.org Alateen (Tillamook) — 4 p.m. Mon- day, 5012 Third St. For information, call 503-730-5863. Alcoholics Anonymous — To find a meeting in Clatsop County, call 971-601- 9220, in Tillamook County, call 503-739- 4856, or go to aa-oregon.org Men’s Sexual Purity Recovery Group — Tuesday nights. Part of the Pure Life Alliance (purelifealliance.org) in Portland. For infor- mation, call the confidential voice mail at 503-750-0817 and leave a message. Narcotics Anonymous — The North- west Oregon Area of Narcotics Anonymous (NWONA) holds meetings in Clatsop County. For full schedule details, as well as upcom- ing special events, call the Helpline at 503- 717-3702, or go to na.org Overeaters Anonymous — 1 p.m. Sun- day, Suzanne Elise Assisted Living Commu- nity library, 101 Forest Drive, Seaside. Call 503-738-0307 for information. TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) (Asto- ria) — 5 p.m. weigh-in, 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday, First Lutheran Church, 725 33rd St. For information, call Trisha Hayrynen at 503-298-9058. TOPS (Seaside) — 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. meeting Tuesday, North Coast Family Fel- lowship Church, 2245 N. Wahanna Road. All are welcome. For information, call 509-910-0354. TOPS (Warrenton) — 9 to 9:45 a.m. weigh-in, 10 a.m. meeting Wednesday, First Baptist Church, 30 N.E. First St. For informa- tion, call Cheryl Nitz at 503-338-2132. Michael Casey/AP Photo University of New Hampshire’s Fred Short holds a strand of eel grass pulled from the Great Bay in Durham, New Hampshire. Scientists struggle to save seagrass from coastal pollution By MICHAEL CASEY and ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press DURHAM, N.H. — Peering over the side of his skiff anchored in the middle of New Hampshire’s Great Bay, Fred Short liked what he saw. Just below the surface, the 69-year-old marine ecologist noticed beds of bright green seagrass swaying in the waist-deep water. It was the latest sign that these plants with ribbon-like strands, which had declined up to 80% since the 1990s, were starting to bounce back with improved water quality. Seven rivers carry pollution from 52 com- munities in New Hampshire and Maine into the 1,020-square-mile watershed for the bay. “It actually looks better than it did last year at this time and better than has in many years,” said Short, a noted seagrass expert who coordinates the monitoring of 135 sites around the world from his University of New Hampshire lab. “You see here,” he said, glancing into the water. “It’s nearly 100% cover. You look to the bottom. You can’t see the mud. You just see eelgrass. That is as dense as it gets. That’s a really good sign.” Seagrass beds in New Hampshire and along shorelines around the world are important because they have been found to provide food and shelter for fish, shellfish and sea turtles. They also blunt the impacts of ocean acidification, reduce coastal ero- sion and keep the water clean by filtering out excessive nutrients. Their comeback in the Great Bay gives hope for recovery elsewhere. The more than 70 species of seagrasses are among the most poorly protected but widespread coastal habitats — more than 116,000 square miles have been mapped, though there could be 10 times that. They are found along coastlines around the world except Antarctica’s. Seagrasses, which cover less than 0.2% of the world’s oceans, store twice as much car- bon in a given area as temperate and tropical forests, a study by the United Nations-affil- iated Blue Carbon Initiative found. But sea- grass meadows in many places are imperiled by coastal development, overfishing, run- off from farm waste and the growing threat from climate change. They have declined roughly 7% annually since the 1990s, a peer-reviewed study found. That is on par with the declines of tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Some seagrass declines have occurred with stunning speed. Central California’s scenic Morro Bay has lost more than 90% of its eelgrass since 2007. “It’s certainly not a pretty picture and may not get any prettier because of the cli- mate change issues we are all dealing with,” said Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Robert Orth, a professor who has studied seagrass for decades. “These plants are very sensitive to environmental characteristics — water quality, temperature.” In parts of the United States and other developed countries, there is growing rec- ognition of the importance of seagrass and its sensitivity to nitrogen-rich runoff from sewage treatment plants and other sources. Too much nitrogen can spike algae growth, which clouds the water and blocks the sun- light seagrass needs to grow. “We think this is a problem that has to be solved,” said Ken Moraff, water divi- sion director for U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency’s New England region. Com- munities around the Great Bay have spent about $200 million to upgrade wastewa- ter treatment plants, resulting in some cut- ting nitrogen releases by up to 70%, accord- ing to EPA and officials in several Great Bay communities. “We’ve seen other areas where reduc- tions in nitrogen do result in the ecosystem starting to come back,” Moraff said. Studies have documented seagrass recov- ery in Boston, Tampa Bay and Long Island Sound. Boston Harbor was once known as the dirtiest harbor in America because most waste went into the waters untreated. ‘IT’S EASIER TO SAy NO, NO LET THE NEXT Guy PAy FOR IT. buT NOW WE ARE AT THE POINT WHERE IT’S cAuSING A HuGE ISSuE. yOu dON’T HAVE TO bELIEVE THE ScIENcE. GO OuT THERE ANd LOOK.’ Fred Short | marine ecologist Then the state invested $3.8 billion in a treatment facility on Deer Island that was completed in 2001 and allowed wastewater to be piped almost 10 miles out into Massa- chusetts Bay. The state has documented an 80% decline in nitrogen levels in the harbor. Tay Evans, a seagrass specialist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisher- ies, said there has been a corresponding 50% increase in eelgrass from 2006 to 2016. Now seagrass is growing in Governors Island Flats near Logan International Airport. “It was astounding me,” Evans said. “I dove there and saw what we would call a moonscape that was just mud. You come back and it’s a lush meadow and then you’re going to see all the animals — the winter flounder swimming through there, lobster walking around.” In Tampa Bay, seagrass beds are reaching levels not seen since the 1950s. More than $2.5 billion was spent on upgrades to sewage treatment plants, mea- sures to address stormwater runoff and curbs on nitrogen emissions from power plants. That resulted in two-thirds less nitrogen going into the bay compared to the 1970s, according to Ed Sherwood, executive direc- tor of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. Seagrass area nearly doubled to about 63 square miles. The water quality improve- ment along with a gill net ban has contrib- uted to the recovery of several fish species including striped mullet, red drum and spot- ted sea trout. But such stories can’t mask the challenges. Some recoveries such as those in parts of the Boston Harbor and the Great Bay are at risk from dredging. In other places, such as Chesapeake Bay, a decline in nitrogen has benefited many underwater plants but not eelgrass, which has declined since the 1990s. Brooke Landry, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist who moni- tors the bay’s underwater vegetation, said that eelgrass, a coldwater species, may be more susceptible to heat events as seen in 2005 and 2010 — or to overly cloudy waters in the bay. Scientists are also struggling to under- stand why eelgrass hasn’t come back in Cal- ifornia’s Morro Bay. “We have some theories,” said Jennifer O’Leary, who studied the bay as a Califor- nia Sea Grant researcher. She said the eel- grass decline has occurred in waters that are warmer, saltier, cloudier and less oxygen- ated than the bay’s mouth, where eelgrass did well. In New Hampshire, eelgrass has recov- ered about 20% in parts of the Great Bay, though it hasn’t returned to several areas. Some conservationists argue that bayside communities need to further reduce nitrogen releases through tens of millions of dollars in treatment plant improvements. But several towns counter they have already made significant upgrades to their plants and that they should focus on cheaper options. “You want to put your money where it’s going to do the most good,” said Portsmouth Deputy City Attorney Suzanne Woodland. The EPA is considering allowing commu- nities to hold off on treatment plant upgrades while they try to reduce nitrogen from storm- water runoff and septic tanks. Some com- munities upgraded sewage treatment volun- tarily while others made upgrades to settle EPA enforcement actions. Walking to his lab with his latest seagrass samples, University of New Hampshire’s Short says that approach allows communi- ties to avoid the painful steps necessary to ensure full recovery. “It’s easier to say no, no let the next guy pay for it,” he said. “But now we are at the point where it’s causing a huge issue. You don’t have to believe the science. Go out there and look.” RELIGION BRIEFS Pacific Unitarian Universalist The Pacific Unitarian Universalist Fel- lowship meets at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Performing Arts Center, 588 16th St. The speaker is Kari Gottfried, whose topic is “How to Jump-start Your Spiritual Life.” Gottfried is a lifelong UU from Corvallis, currently studying religion and political sci- ence at Wellesley College. A social time after the service is in the “green room” downstairs. Religious edu- cation for children is available during the service. Grace Episcopal Grace Episcopal Church celebrates the First Sunday after Christmas at the 10 a.m. service on Sunday, providing another chance to sing Christmas carols. Those attending are asked to bring cookies to share during coffee hour following the service. The Grace Labyrinth will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; a brief orientation is avail- able upon request on Wednesday, New Year’s Day. Live music is being provided by Jenni- fer Goodenberger, Shelley Loring and Ray Utterback. In addition, the church worship space is open for prayers and meditation. There is an opportunity, through Jan. 12, to bring gifts for those in need. New items such as underwear, socks, gloves and scarves will be donated to the Warming Cen- ter in Astoria. For information, call the church at 503- 325-4691 or go to graceastoria.org
