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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2021)
B4 THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, OcTObER 16, 2021 New movie inspired by Oregon’s dunes By JAMIE HALE The Oregonian The sweeping sand dunes of the planet Arrakis, home to the spice melange and giant sand worms, may sound strangely familiar to those who have explored the cen- tral Oregon Coast. Because while the world imagined in classic sci-fi novel “Dune” may be entirely alien, Pacific Northwest author Frank Herbert first dreamed it up on a visit to the Oregon Dunes just outside Florence. First released in 1965, “Dune” is once again in the public consciousness thanks to a new major film adapta- tion, due out Oct. 22 in the- aters across the U.S. and on streaming service HBOMax. The new movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve, has an all- star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Zen- daya, Rebecca Furguson and Jason Momoa. While the new movie was filmed in Europe and the Middle East, Her- bert, born and raised around Tacoma, Washington, was originally inspired by the sweeping dunescapes of the Pacific coast. In 1957, Herbert was a struggling author, living with his family in Portland fol- lowing a stint working as a speech writer for failed U.S. Senate candidate Phil Hitch- cock, according to “Dreamer of Dune,” a biography writ- ten by his son, Brian Her- bert. Frank Herbert had already published one suc- cessful novel, “The Dragon in the Sea,” but his other stories failed to find an audience and the family struggled to make ends meet. That year, Hitchcock told Herbert of an exciting eco- logical project on the central Oregon Coast, where govern- ment researchers were experi- menting with European beach grass in the Oregon Dunes, a 40-mile stretch of oceanfront dunes between Florence and Coos Bay, hoping to stabilize Jamie Hale/The Oregonian The Oregon Dunes are located on the central Oregon Coast. the shifting sands. The dunes were notori- ously unstable, constantly shifting and moving in the strong winds that blew in off the Pacific Ocean, threaten- ing the new communities popping up along the coast. The beach grass, which was first introduced on the Ore- gon Coast in the 1880s, had been used to tame “the sand demon” up the Pacific coast and along the Columbia River, according to a 1904 article in The Oregonian. Herbert penned a story about his experience at the dunes called “They Stopped the Moving Sands,” but it was never published. Instead, the author began a yearslong pro- cess of research and writing that culminated in his land- mark sci-fi epic — a novel that used science fiction as a canvas to air his philosophies on ecology, religion, the dan- gerous allure of charismatic leaders and our overreliance on scarce natural resources. In “Dune” the scarce nat- ural resources are both water (a rarity on the desert planet) and the spice melange, a nat- FRANK HERBERT PENNED A STORY ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE AT THE DUNES CALLED ‘THEY STOPPED THE MOVING SANDS,’ BUT IT WAS NEVER PUBLISHED. INSTEAD, THE AUTHOR BEGAN A YEARSLONG PROCESS OF RESEARCH AND WRITING THAT CULMINATED IN HIS LANDMARK SCI-FI EPIC ‘DUNE.’ ural substance that prolongs life and gives its users limited powers of prescience. When war breaks out in the des- ert over the coveted spice — which has also become nec- essary for space travel — it’s not hard to read between the lines. “Science fiction writ- ers tend to take a long-term view,” Herbert told an Ore- gon Journal reporter in 1977, following publication of the third book in his “Dune” series, “Children of Dune.” “We’re writing possible future histories.” Herbert was an early envi- ronmentalist and a staunch critic of fossil fuels. He was also deeply connected to the Pacific Northwest land- scape, spending his child- hood exploring the forests of the Olympic Peninsula and paddling around the Puget Sound, according to “Dreamer of Dune.” That life experience, paired with his extensive research of desert cultures and his time in politics, laid the foundation for “Dune.” While the book received little fanfare when it first published in 1965, the book eventually became one of the most cel- ebrated science fiction nov- els ever, winning both the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction and fan- tasy writing, and selling mil- lions of copies worldwide. It was previously adapted into a Hollywood film directed by David Lynch and starring Kyle MacLachlan, released in 1984 to lackluster reviews. Meanwhile, the Oregon Dunes that provided that first spark of inspiration were evolving as well. With the sands stabilized, U.S. lawmakers first con- sidered designating the Ore- gon Dunes as a national sea- shore in 1958, along with the Sea Lion Caves north of Flor- ence. The effort failed, but the dunes were eventually desig- nated as a national recreation area in 1972, following efforts from U.S. Rep. John Dellen- back, the Oregon Republi- can for whom a section of the dunes is now named. The Oregon Dunes has since become a playground for riders of off-highway vehicles, like ATVs, dune buggies and dirt bikes, with ample room to explore. Some Providence caregivers care. It’s that simple, even when it’s hard. To every Providence caregiver, through every demanding day of the COVID-19 crisis, you make us proud. You are heroes, and you’ve done heroic work. We honor you as people of Providence. People filled with kindness who dig deep in difficult times and never, ever waver from providing compassionate care. We thank you, for all you do for the communities we serve. sections are also reserved for hikers, including the beau- tiful Dellenback Dunes, the popular Oregon Dunes Day Use Area and other spots, all managed by the U.S. Forest Service. There have also been efforts in recent years to remove invasive beachgrass and restore the sand dunes to their original state, most nota- bly the campaign by the Ore- gon Dunes Restoration Col- laborative, made up of local governments and tribes, fed- eral agencies, politicians and environmentalists, which formed in 2016, 30 years after Herbert’s death. The collaborative argues that the complex ecosystem in the dunes requires free-blow- ing sands to function, and that wildlife is threatened by the effects of invasive beach grass. Their goal is to protect and restore the dunes in what would likely be a decade- slong project. “For the dunes to exist, the sand needs to move,” Bill Blackwell, a representative of the Oregon Dunes Resto- ration Collaborative, told the Siuslaw News in 2018. “If you’re out there, you can see it will look different from one day to the next. With the veg- etation stabilizing things, the sand can’t move, which stabi- lizes the dunes and simplifies processes.” The ongoing state of the Oregon Dunes is mir- rored with eerie similarities in “Dune,” in which Arrakis undergoes several transfor- mations throughout Her- bert’s six-book series. Read- ers can discover the fate of that planet, but the fate of our dunes is yet to be seen. Those who want a sense of “Dune” in real life can find it at any of the many day-use areas throughout the Oregon Dunes. You won’t find spice or sandworms there, nor righ- teous armies led by a Mes- sianic figurehead, but you might find an inspiring land- scape unlike any other in the Pacific Northwest.