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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2021
IN BRIEF
Parking amendment in Seaside
eliminates ‘one- size-fi ts-all’ requirement
SEASIDE — The city saw an end to “one-size-fi ts-
all” parking requirements for owners of apartment build-
ings. The goal is to remove roadblocks to aff ordable and
workforce housing.
“The ordinance we have now requires two off -street
parking spaces per dwelling unit,” Planning Director
Kevin Cupples said.
This has a signifi cant impact on the amount of backup
land necessary to develop smaller apartments or multi-
family dwellings, which in turn drives up the land cost to
develop smaller rental housing.
According to the new ordinance, studios will need one
off -street space; a one-bedroom apartment 1.25 spaces and
a two-bedroom apartment 1.5 spaces. Larger units would
continue to require a minimum of two off -street spaces.
The idea came from former planning commissioner
Bill Carpenter, who was honored by the City Council
on Monday for his service to the community. Based on
a request by the Planning Commission, the City Council
initiated the public hearing for the zoning change in 2019.
“I fi rst saw this amendment on my term on the Plan-
ning Commission,” City Councilor Steve Wright said.
“This was Bill’s idea. It shows the perseverance of one
individual to keep pushing at it and pushing at it, and we
thank you.”
Coast Guard conducts waterways
analysis of Columbia River entrance
The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting a waterways
analysis and management system study of the Columbia
River entrance and is seeking public comment.
The Coast Guard will use the study to validate the
adequacy of the existing aids to navigation system and
to get a better understanding of general safety issues and
the uses of each waterway.
To participate in a user survey, visit the Coast Guard’s
District 13 website. The deadline to provide public com-
ment is June 30.
— The Astorian
Virus deadly to rabbits found
in multiple areas of Oregon
PORTLAND — Environmental experts are con-
cerned about Oregon’s wild rabbit population after mul-
tiple cases of a virus that is deadly to the animals were
confi rmed in diff erent parts of the state.
The latest case of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease,
which was confi rmed by the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture on Wednesday, was in La Pine. Last month, the
disease was detected nearly 200 miles away in Mil-
waukie in eight dead domestic and feral rabbits.
Following last months discovery, Dr. Ryan Scholz,
Oregon’s state veterinarian, said the virus has taken hold
in the feral rabbit population.
The disease, also referred to as RHD, causes sud-
den death and is highly contagious among the animals,
spreading through contact with infected rabbits, meat,
fur or other materials. Birds, rodents, fl ies, predators and
scavengers can also spread this virus, as well as people
by carrying it on their clothing, hands and shoes.
The disease poses no health risk to humans, experts say.
Statue of Frank a step closer
to U.S. Capitol
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on
Wednesday signed a measure that starts the process of
honoring the late Billy Frank Jr. — a Nisqually tribal
member who championed treaty rights and protecting
the environment — with a statue at the U.S. Capitol.
Inslee signed the measure at Wa He Lut Indian School
in the Nisqually community north of Olympia, joined by
Nisqually tribal leaders.
The measure, which was overwhelmingly approved
by the Legislature with bipartisan support, starts the
legal process to replace Washington’s Marcus Whitman
statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection with a
statue of Frank, who died in 2014 at age 83.
“Billy Frank Jr. was known as a warrior for justice,”
Inslee said before signing the bill. “In addition to being a
warrior for justice, he was a warrior for the natural world
and the values we hold so dear in the state of Washington.”
Frank was fi rst arrested for salmon fi shing as a boy
in 1945 — an event that led him on a long campaign
for tribal rights. He and others were repeatedly arrested
as they staged “fi sh ins” demanding the right to fi sh in
their historical waters, as they were guaranteed in trea-
ties when they ceded land to white settlers in the 19th
century. Frank was jailed more than 50 times.
The eff orts were vindicated in 1974, when U.S. Dis-
trict Judge George Boldt affi rmed the tribes’ right to half
of the fi sh harvest — and the nation’s obligation to honor
the old treaties.
Over the next 40 years, Frank continued to advo-
cate for tribal fi shing rights and the protection of natural
resources, including salmon.
— Associated Press
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Astoria Development Commission, 5 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commission, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Cascadia Wildlands
Critics say the state is removing trees that aren’t actually hazardous.
Arborists say state’s post-fi res
tree cutting is excessive
By CASSANDRA
PROFITA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon has a lot of
cleanup work to do after
more than 1 million acres
of land burned in last year’s
wildfi res.
That cleanup involves
removing burned trees near
roads and structures that
could fall and create safety
hazards. But which burned
trees are truly hazardous
and need to be removed?
More than 20 conser-
vation groups sent a let-
ter Tuesday to U.S. Interior
Secretary Deb Haaland and
Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack opposing the post-
fi re roadside logging pro-
posed or actively being car-
ried out by federal agencies.
And a growing number of
people are sounding alarms
over excessive tree-cutting
along scenic highways and
protected rivers as the Ore-
gon Department of Trans-
portation and its contrac-
tors proceed with plans to
cut nearly 300,000 trees
deemed as hazardous.
The critics include arbor-
ists who have worked on
the project and say the reck-
less tree-cutting operations
across the state are being
mismanaged and need to be
stopped.
Images of roadside clear-
cuts have sparked concern
that contractors are rush-
ing and cutting more trees
than they need to because
they want to cash in on Fed-
eral Emergency Manage-
ment Agency funds that
are expected to cover 75%
of the hazard tree removal
work.
Meanwhile, road clo-
sures surrounding the work
make it diffi cult for the pub-
lic to see which trees are
being marked for removal.
But ODOT spokesman
Tony Andersen said the
state designed its hazard
tree removal contracts to
protect against cutting trees
unnecessarily just to make
more money.
working to identify, evalu-
ate, mark and then remove
those trees so that no more
lives are lost at the hands of
2020 wildfi res.”
While the state is moving
carefully to remove trees,
Andersen said, “there’s
bound to be some urgency
there because the faster you
remove them, the less time
there is for them to hurt
anyone.”
According to Andersen,
the state is using profes-
sional certifi ed arborists and
professional certifi ed forest-
ers to evaluate the burned
trees using a long list of
criteria to decide which
ones should be marked for
removal.
“No one in our task
force wants to cut any more
trees than we need to,” he
said. “All this work is dic-
tated and outlined by a spe-
cifi c set of criteria that pro-
vide the guidance for which
trees are determined hazard
trees and which trees will be
removed.”
But arborists involved
in developing and applying
that criteria said it’s inad-
equate and it’s being used
to remove trees that aren’t
actually hazardous.
Arborists fl ag problems
Tom
Ford
worked
as the head arborist for
CDR McGuire, a com-
pany based in Florida that
ODOT hired on a $75.5
million contract to oversee
the state’s wildfire debris
removal project.
The company was con-
tracted to provide guidance
on which hazard trees to cut
in nine diff erent parts of the
state that were impacted by
wildfi re. Initial estimates
projected a need to remove
more than 295,000 hazard
trees.
Ford said his role with
the company was required
by FEMA to ensure envi-
ronmental stewardship in
the hazard tree removal
work that the federal agency
has already funded with
$140 million.
‘I JUST DROVE THROUGH THE
ARCHIE CREEK F IRE AREA,
AND THE FEELING OF DRIVING
THROUGH A CORRIDOR WITH
DEAD AND DYING TREES ON
BOTH SIDES OF YOU IS AN
UNEASY FEELING. WE’RE
WORKING TO IDENTIFY,
EVALUATE, MARK AND THEN
REMOVE THOSE TREES SO THAT
NO MORE LIVES ARE LOST AT THE
HANDS OF 2020 WILDFIRES.’
Tony Andersen | ODOT spokesman
He said safety is a top
concern after last year’s
wildfi res left hundreds of
thousands of dead and dying
trees that could fall and hurt
or even kill people driving
along state roads.
“I just drove through
the Archie Creek fi re area,
and the feeling of driving
through a corridor with dead
and dying trees on both sides
of you is an uneasy feel-
ing,” Andersen said. “We’re
Part of his assignment
was the hefty task of writ-
ing a set of procedures for
arborists to follow as they
decided which burned trees
near roads and structures
should be removed.
As a certifi ed arbor-
ist and hazard tree assessor
with 30 years of experience
falling hazard trees, Ford
knew he was playing a crit-
ical role in a huge, compli-
cated tree-removal job that
very few people are quali-
fi ed to do.
“It’s the most important
role in the whole project —
that’s how I interpreted it
and that’s how I approached
it,” Ford said.
He submitted what he
thought was just the fi rst
draft of operating proce-
dures for choosing which
hazard trees to cut. But
he says that draft wasn’t
reviewed by other experts,
and he received no feed-
back from his managers
before it was implemented
to guide the marking of haz-
ard trees.
“They’re so far into
something that’s so wrong,”
he said. “The best thing that
we can do is just stop it and
start over.”
Ford said ODOT doesn’t
need to be cutting so many
trees so quickly because
many fi re-damaged trees
will take years to become
hazardous.
“As foresters, what do
we do to bring this forest
back to a state of health?
We don’t cut down every
single tree as fast as we can
just because it’s partially
burned,” he said. “But that’s
what they’re doing.”
THE CRITICS INCLUDE
ARBORISTS WHO HAVE WORKED
ON THE PROJECT AND SAY
THE RECKLESS TREE-CUTTING
OPERATIONS ACROSS THE STATE
ARE BEING MISMANAGED AND
NEED TO BE STOPPED.
“What I proposed to
ODOT was really simple
because I wanted to just give
people something they could
get to the table with and start
to argue and hammer out a
real set of assessment guide-
lines,” Ford said. “It was
never, ever, ever meant to be
used in the fi eld.”
Ford said the whole pro-
cess was rushed, leaving
arborists in the fi eld without
proper guidelines for mark-
ing which trees should be
cut and which ones should
be left standing to avoid
unnecessary environmental
damage.
“There was incredible
pressure on me by people
who didn’t understand what
had to be done in order to
do marking with due dil-
igence,” he said. “It was
almost like they didn’t think
there were consequences to
doing it wrong.”
The project has already
marked about 64,000 trees
and removed about 24,000
of them statewide, accord-
ing to ODOT. But Ford
said the criteria arborists
are using to mark trees for
removal is inappropriate
and inadequate.
“They’re nowhere near
resolving
which
trees
should be cut,” he said. “We
have no real supportable
criteria for how we’re mark-
ing trees and we never have
from the beginning.”
ODOT declined to com-
ment on Ford’s employ-
ment with CDR Maguire,
and the company has not
responded to a request for
comment.
But Andersen said there
were multiple agencies
involved in determining the
criteria that are being used
to mark trees for removal,
including the U.S. For-
est Service and the Oregon
Department of Environ-
mental Quality.
Ford said he was notifi ed
in January that he was no
longer working on the proj-
ect. He said he doesn’t know
why he was let go, but it’s
clear to him that the whole
project is moving way too
fast and needed more time
to develop the proper guide-
lines for removing trees and
train tree assessors.
‘A mismanaged
operation’
Matt Allen, another arbor-
ist who worked on ODOT’s
hazard tree removal project
in the fi eld, said he saw the
consequences of not having
solid criteria for which trees
should be cut.
Allen is a certifi ed mas-
ter arborist who is tree
risk assessment qualifi ed,
an additional certifi cation
known as TRAQ. He was
hired in December to work
for Mason Bruce & Girard,
a Portland-based environ-
mental consulting company
working with CDR Maguire
to identify hazard trees.
According to ODOT, the
consulting company’s role
is to help check the work
of CDR Maguire employ-
ees and ensure hazard trees
are marked correctly for
removal.
Allen was directed to
assess hazard trees along
Oregon Route 138 on the
North Umpqua River in
s outhwest Oregon, where
the Archie Creek fi re burned
more than 131,000 acres.
He said the people work-
ing alongside him for CDR
Maguire were not certifi ed
arborists.
“They were a bunch of
inexperienced people from
the Southeast U.S. that had
no idea what they were
doing out there,” he said.
Allen said he helped train
these employees in tree spe-
cies identifi cation so they
could enter data into a phone
app that applied an algo-
rithm to determine which
trees should be marked for
removal.
The guidelines for choos-
ing which trees were haz-
ardous were constantly
changing, he said, and
the disorganized opera-
tion resulted in marking a
lot of trees for removal that
he didn’t consider to be
hazardous.
“Most of these trees are
burned, scorched and even-
tually will die, but very few
if any are actually hazard-
ous at this time,” he said.
“I can count on one hand
how many actually hazard-
ous trees I found after tag-
ging close to 5,500 trees for
removal.”