A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020
IN BRIEF
Fort Clatsop to host meeting
on park accessibility plan
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park will host
a virtual public meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday to collect
comments on a plan to improve accessibility for visitors.
The park’s draft Accessibility Self-Evaluation and
Transition Plan examines key park experiences — such
as sites that help visitors better understand the life the
explorers of the Lewis and Clark Expedition led during
their stay at Fort Clatsop — and evaluates each areas’
accessibility needs.
The plan will guide changes to the way existing ser-
vices, activities and programs are provided in multiple
locations throughout the park.
To register for the meeting, contact the park at Lewi_
socialmedia@nps.gov
State seeks candidate for
fi sh restoration board
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is seek-
ing candidates to serve on a board that reviews grant pro-
posals for fi sh restoration and enhancement projects.
The Fish Restoration and Enhancement Program
Board is overseen by a seven-member, volunteer board
that includes representatives from sport fi shing, com-
mercial troll and gillnet fi sheries and the seafood pro-
cessing industry.
The position open now is the single public-at-large
representative.
For more info, visit dfw.state.or.us/fi sh/RE/board.asp.
County seeking applicants for tax board
Clatsop County is seeking applicants for three posi-
tions on the county Board of Property Tax Appeals for
the 2020 to 2021 term.
The board reviews petitions from taxpayers seeking
to decrease their real market or assessed value of real and
personal property.
The board has up to fi ve meetings in February and
March to hear petitions and adjourns by April 15. Train-
ing is provided in January.
Applicants must live in the county, but cannot be
employees of the county or any taxing district. The
county Board of Commissioners will make appointments
to a pool and the county clerk will select three people.
Applications are available on the county’s website
and are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 18. Contact the Clatsop
County Clerk’s offi ce at 503-325-8511 with questions.
— The Astorian
Hailey Hoff man/
The Astorian
SUMMER
SIGHTS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Boys played pickup basketball at Fred
Lindstrom Memorial Park in Astoria on Tuesday afternoon.
Dancers appeared outside the Barbey Maritime Center on
Thursday. Nathan Morris gleefully holds a large rock he and
his friends pulled up from the bottom of the swimming hole
at Youngs River Falls on Tuesday afternoon.
DEATHS
Aug. 17, 2020
In GILBERT,
Brief
Kendra
June, 78, of Warrenton,
died in Portland. Ocean
Deaths
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
PETERSON, Bradley,
71, of Edmonds, Wash-
ington, died in Astoria.
Hughes-Ransom
Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
POCHERT, Alan, 75,
of Seaside, died in Sea-
side.
Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Aug. 16, 2020
DAWSON, Darle Ger-
trude “Trudy,” 91, of Glen
Cove, New York, formerly
of Astoria, died in Glen
Cove. Whitting Funeral
Home of Glen Head, New
York, is in charge of the
arrangements.
Aug. 10, 2020
STEELE, Patrick, 70, of
Seattle, Washington, died
in Seaside. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Morgan Grindy/The Astorian
Protections sought for freshwater mussel
By MONICA SAMAYOA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
BIRTH
Aug. 1, 2020
Birth
SCHLOSSER, Serena and Aaron, of Chinook,
Washington, a boy, Howard Martin Schlosser, born at
Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Grandparents
are Ann and Tom Orwick, of Portland, and Constance
and Martin Schlosser, of Kennewick, Washington.
ON THE RECORD
Assault
was arrested Thursday at
On
the record
• Margaret
Kater- Walmart in Warrenton for
ina Wilski, 21, of Gear-
hart, was arrested Friday
on Bristol Street and Flor-
ence Avenue in Astoria for
assault in the fourth degree.
Theft
• Tiffani Wetterauer, 45,
of Raymond, Washington,
theft in the second degree.
DUII
• Bryce Anthony Whit-
man, 32, of Portland, was
arrested Wednesday on
Sunset Beach in Warren-
ton for driving under the
infl uence of intoxicants.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 1 p.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Planning Commission, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St., (electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103 Telephone 503-325-3211,
800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103-0210
DailyAstorian.com
A nonprofi t conservation
group has fi led a petition
for Endangered Species Act
protections for a unique spe-
cies of mussel that is vanish-
ing from rivers and streams
in the Pacifi c Northwest.
The Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation’s
petition is aimed at improv-
ing the chances of survival
for the western ridged mus-
sel. It’s found in the Pacifi c
Northwest, along with some
areas in California and
Nevada. The species can
live for many decades in riv-
ers and streams and provide
many benefi ts, such as fi l-
tering water where they are
located.
When they’re young
these mussels hook onto
sculpin and other native
fi sh. By doing this, they can
expand into other parts of
the river, where they bury
themselves in the sedi-
ment and fi lter and clean the
riverbed.
The Xerces Society,
along with other agencies
and organizations like the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Teal Waterstrat
Empty western ridged mussel shells from a recent die-off
found in the John Day River in Eastern Oregon in August.
Reservation, have been
working on several projects
over the p ast two decades to
learn more about this unique
species. Some of those proj-
ects include tracking and
monitoring populations and
investigating recent die-offs
in different river basins.
A 2017 analysis looked
at historic versus recent dis-
tributing areas of the spe-
cies and found that the pop-
ulations have declined by
almost 50% of its historic
range and has been acceler-
ating in recent years.
“We’ve been fi nding that
Volunteer
Circulation phone number:
503-325-3211
Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR
ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP
All advertising copy and illustrations
prepared by The Astorian become the
property of The Astorian and may not
be reproduced for any use without
explicit prior approval.
Pick of the Week
Mike
COPYRIGHT ©
Entire contents © Copyright,
2020 by The Astorian.
4 year old Tabby Cat
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF
CIRCULATIONS, INC.
Limited vision does not
curtail this sunny fellow’s
sunny disposition - he’s
just a lovely gentleman.
Printed on
recycled paper
Subscription rates
Eff ective May 1, 2019
MAIL (IN COUNTY)
EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$11.25
13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00
26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00
52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00
(Read about the pet of the week on Facebook )
Out of County Rates available at 800-781-3214
DIGITAL
EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.00
C LATSOP C OUNTY A NIMAL S HELTER
C LATSOP 1315
SE 19 Street, Warrenton • 861 - PETS
Noon to 4pm, Tues-Sat
A NIMAL A SSISTANCE www.dogsncats.org
Sponsored
By
th
populations of this species
are being hit by some kind
of unexplained die-off that’s
causing many mussels to
just die off over the course
of a single event or some-
times over the course of sev-
eral years,” Emilie Blevins,
a senior conservation biolo-
gist for the Xerces Society,
said.
Blevins said the species
can live for many decades
and reach a mature age for
reproduction in 15 years.
She said the recent mas-
sive die-offs are alarming
and protections are needed
in order to learn more about
the species and its threats.
Some of those threats
include habitat destruction
and degradation, impacts to
water quality and quantity,
pollution, warming rivers
due to climate change, inad-
equate protection from rec-
reational harvest and inva-
sive species.
Mussels often look like
rocks and can be hard to see.
As such, they can be unin-
tentionally destroyed by
construction work — even
when Pacifi c Northwest riv-
ers are being restored to help
salmon recovery.
“These mussels are
totally open to the river
environment. They fi lter
constantly. They spend their
entire lives in the bottoms of
rivers and so as a result any-
thing that’s affecting a local
river can be causing harm to
these species,” Blevins said.
“They can be very sensi-
tive. They are able to really
put up with a lot, but drying
rivers, polluted rivers, warm
rivers, all those can have a
real impact on them.”
Alexa Maine is the f resh
w ater m ussel p roject b iol-
ogist for the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation. She said
the western ridged mussels
are important in two ways;
historically and culturally
for the Umatilla t ribes and
for the ecosystems they are
found in. The tribes tra-
ditionally boiled or dried
the mussels in the fall and
stored them over winter as a
supplementary food supply.
Their shells were also used
for jewelry, beads, orna-
ments and ceremonies.
“The cultural aspect is
highly important and in the
tribal culture we don’t sepa-
rate the cultural importance
from the ecological impor-
tance,” Maine said. “It has
to do with this whole inter-
connection between the spe-
cies and the river system.
It’s like the house of cards,
you take one away and the
structure might be still sta-
ble but less stable.”
Maine called these mus-
sels “the liver of the river”
because of the way they fi l-
ter and clean the water at a
rate much higher than their
body mass would suggest.
“If we can get more peo-
ple on board and interested
in mussels, I think we have a
really good chance of help-
ing these guys continue liv-
ing and helping rivers,”
Maine said. “They can only
help, they can’t hurt. If we
can help them, they can help
us.”