»INSIDE
THURSDAY
JAN. 20
2022
TH E RIVER’S BEAUTY
SALMON,
INE FIGHT FOR RIVER
MBIA
NEW BOOKS EXAM
ON THE COLU
RESTORATION
G
UNDERSTANDIN
HER
WINTER WEAT
PAGE 4
A COZY SOUP
RECIPE
PAGE 12
PAGE 8
149TH YEAR, NO. 87
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022
$1.50
HERITAGE SQUARE
Housing
project
moves
forward
A 4-1 vote by the City Council
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
A proposal for workforce housing at
Heritage Square that would include units
for people undergoing mental health treat-
ment has advanced.
City councilors, acting as the Astoria
Development Commission, voted 4 to 1
Tuesday night to recommend the c ity enter
into an exclusive negotiating agreement
with Portland-based developer, Edlen & Co.
Edlen & Co. and Related, another Port-
land-based developer, pitched their ideas for
the downtown block near City Hall after the
city requested expressions of interest last
fall.
A group of city leaders and stakeholders,
appointed by Mayor Bruce Jones, recom-
mended city councilors move forward with
the Edlen & Co. proposal after conducting
private interviews with the two teams ear-
lier this month .
“I don’t see the Heritage Square proj-
ect being able to solve the full spectrum
of housing needs,” Jones said. “This is an
opportunity for our local government to
make a signifi cant dent in the lower end of
the workforce housing spectrum, as well
See Heritage Square, Page A6
Port to
study
tide gate
at airport
High water levels a challenge
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
A tide gate that has plagued the Asto-
ria Regional Airport for a number of
years will get a closer look by the Port of
Astoria thanks to a grant from Business
Oregon.
The $99,600 grant will allow the Port
to perform a site assessment and a wet-
lands delineation, as well as several other
tasks, on the Vera Slough tide gate. The
Port had been working with Warrenton
and Clatsop County to determine how the
tide gate could be adjusted, or revamped,
in order to lower water levels at the air-
port in Warrenton.
Photos by Lydia Ely/The Astorian
People walk along an intertidal zone at Hug Point.
Study fi nds coastal
ecosystem under stress
Weaknesses appear as
temperatures rise due
to climate change
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
sign of climate change has gone
unseen — and underfoot — on
the Oregon Coast.
A recent study from a team of scien-
tists at Oregon State University found
that, for at least the past decade, sea-
weed , barnacles, mussels, anemones
and other species that make up the eco-
system on rocky coastlines have weak-
ened as temperatures rise.
“To the untrained eye, you wouldn’t
actually be able to see this,” said Sarah
Gravem, a postdoctoral researcher
and co-author of the study. “But what
it’s showing us is that there are symp-
toms of climate change that are not that
apparent, unless you start really exper-
imenting and tracking things in detail
over long periods of time.”
Between 2011 and 2019, the team
monitored several plots in Cape Foul-
weather, Cape Perpetua and Cape
Blanco. They found that natural varia-
tion increased, a sign of instability and
an indication that an ecosystem may
change.
The experimental approach they
took brought more startling results,
though, in an ecosystem that had previ-
ously appeared resistant to stress.
Assuming the role of a hypothetical
storm, heat wave or disease, the team
cleared another small plot at each site —
every year — for nearly a decade. They
removed all visible species, including
mussels, barnacles and sea stars. Then,
they tracked how quickly the site could
recover.
Over time, the plots’ ability to bounce
back slowed, and its variation increased.
A
Barnacles and mussels cover the rocks of the intertidal zone at Hug Point.
‘TO THE UNTRAINED EYE, YOU WOULDN’T
ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO SEE THIS. BUT WHAT IT’S
SHOWING US IS THAT THERE ARE SYMPTOMS
OF CLIMATE CHANGE THAT ARE NOT THAT
APPARENT, UNLESS YOU START REALLY
EXPERIMENTING AND TRACKING THINGS IN
DETAIL OVER LONG PERIODS OF TIME.’
Sarah Gravem | a postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the study
This showed that in the last decade, the
intertidal zones have become less resil-
ient and more vulnerable to disruptive
events.
The plots became more vacant over
time.
Bruce Menge, the lead author on the
study, is particularly concerned with the
decline of mussels, which support hun-
dreds of other species. Though their
total disappearance is not imminent,
their revealed vulnerability has long-
term implications.
“The main appeal of rocky shores
to the average person is probably just
as a cool place to go and look at really
colorful and abundant organisms. That
would pretty much disappear. It would
See Ecosystem, Page A2
See Tide gate, Page A6
Popular theater, lounge and cafe changes hands
Astoria Brewing owners
take on the Columbian
By ABBEY McDONALD
The Astorian
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The Columbian Theater has new owners.
Since buying the Riviera B uild-
ing in 1997, Uriah Hulsey and
Jeanine Fairchild have turned it
into an eclectic gathering place for
locals, off ering everything from
homestyle breakfast to a night on
the town.
After decades of running the
show, the couple has decided to
step away .
Hulsey and Fairchild are sell-
ing the downtown complex that
includes the Columbian Theater,
the Voodoo Room, the Colum-
bian Cafe and the adjacent
storefront that was previously
Metal Head.
Karen and Stephen Allen,
who own the neighboring Asto-
ria Brewing Co. and several other
businesses in town, are buying
the property.
They plan on keeping the decor
and aesthetic , but are consider-
ing renaming it after the Riviera
Building . If they do, they hope to
restore the building’s neon sign as
shown in century-old photos.
Hulsey’s connection to the
building goes back to 1980, when
he took over operations for the
cafe. Looking back on his time as
the owner, he said he is proud to
have brought additional jobs and
a community space to Astoria.
“Those things were important
because Astoria was going through
a real hard time in the ‘80s and we
were able to make it through,” he
said.
See Columbian, Page A6