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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2019)
147TH YEAR, NO. 78 WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2019 $1.50 Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian The Bear Creek watershed east of Astoria supplies water to the city. Astoria works to protect the city’s water supply Risks from slides and earthquakes By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian A City of Astoria In 1895, work crews trenched a wooden pipe 12 miles from the Bear Creek Dam to a reservoir just east of Astoria. The wood pipe was replaced with concrete cylinder in 1963. storia bought its own watershed in 1893, securing 3,700 acres of hills and streams around Nico- lai and Wickiup mountains feeding an abundant water supply into three reser- voirs and the Bear Creek Dam 12 miles east of town. In 1895, workers trenched a transmis- sion line winding through the wooded hills, carrying water from the d am to the city’s fi nished-water reservoirs. Making sure that pipe isn’t damaged in one of the region’s many landslide zones, much less a large earthquake, is one of the most serious issues Astoria hopes to address in a 20-year update of its water system master plan. The city recently advertised for fi rms that could complete the state-man- dated update, expected to be conducted over the next couple of years. Firms A groundfi sh rebound Trawlers search for sustainability Gillian Flaccus/AP Photo Kevin Dunn, who fi shes off the coasts of Oregon and Washington state, holds an aurora rockfi sh at a processing facility in Warrenton. once the industry’s biggest foes. The two sides collaborated on a long- term plan that will continue to resus- citate the groundfi sh industry while permanently protecting thousands of square miles of reefs and coral beds that benefi t the overfi shed species. Now, the fi shermen who see their livelihood returning must solve another piece of the puzzle: drum- ming up consumer demand for fi sh that haven’t been in grocery stores or on menus for a generation. “It’s really a conservation home run,” said Shems Jud, regional direc- tor for the Environmental Defense Fund’s ocean program. “The recov- ery is decades ahead of schedule. It’s the biggest environmental story that no one knows about.” See Groundfi sh, Page A6 See Water, Page A6 Astoria could relax rules on burials remains on site. “There have been more peo- ple that want to be cremated, and their remains kept, put in a sacred By EDWARD STRATTON place,” she said. “Churches … The Astorian they don’t have church yards anymore, so they’ve gone to The late Rev. Lance Peeler, columbaria.” Grace Episcopal has tried who served as rector of Grace Episcopal Church until his several times to establish a place for interment on death from cancer in church grounds, said May, hoped to have his Jenny Ralls, the parish ashes interred on church administrator. grounds. “When Father Lance Grace Episcopal died, that was one of his hopes to build an incon- major things he wanted spicuous columbarium to do,” she said. “And so underneath the staircase to its main entrance to Lance Peeler it felt fi tting to be able to try again.” store remains, or a living The city established Ocean tree in the courtyard under which View Cemetery in Warrenton to bury them. But fi rst, Astoria must change in 1897. Around that time came a code dating back to the 19th the prohibition on burials and century that bars the burial or interments in city limits, City storage of remains in city limits. Manager Brett Estes told the Elizabeth McWhorter, the Planning Commission when it interim rector at Grace Epis- recently took up Grace Episco- copal since September, said all pal’s request. fi ve churches she’s been at have had some sort of place to inter See Burials, Page A6 Late reverend wanted his ashes kept at church By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press WARRENTON — A rare envi- ronmental success story is unfolding in waters off the West Coast. After years of fear and uncer- tainty, bottom trawler fi shermen — those who use nets to scoop up rock- fi sh, bocaccio, sole, Pacifi c Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fi sh — are making a comeback, rein- venting themselves as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacifi c Ocean because of the species’ depletion. The ban devastated fi shermen, but on Wednesday, regulators will reopen an area roughly three times the size of Rhode Island off Oregon and California to groundfi sh bottom trawling — all with the approval of environmental groups that were will look at several issues identifi ed in the 2000 water master plan. Questions around supply and demand will be fairly straightforward, said Jeff Harrington, the city’s public works director. “We have plenty of water,” he said. The city’s 2000 water plan projected a demand of 15,000 people , Harrington said. But Astoria hasn’t topped 10,000 people since the 1990 c ensus. Water demands in the city are largely driven by seafood processing. The city has never run out of water and once served twice the 2.5 million gallons it currently aver- ages, he said. But commingled with the water study are several mandates from the state and federal governments around natural disaster resiliency and security. One is an analysis of earthquake risks to the city’s water supply. “That’s a big problem for us, with our landslide terrain here,” Harrington recently told the City Council. “We actually have sections of water line that fail due to landslides without having an earthquake happen.”
