149TH YEAR, NO. 106
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022
$1.50
Lawmakers
approve
forest
accord
Agreement between timber
and environmental interests
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Photos by Nicole Bales/The Astorian
The Garlington Center in Portland.
Housing project at Heritage Square
modeled after similar campus in Portland
Garlington Center includes health center and affordable apartments
See Forest accord, Page A6
Job training
package
advances
in Salem
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
ORTLAND — Over the next sev-
eral weeks, Astoria will collabo-
rate with Edlen & Co. to refine a
proposed workforce housing proj-
ect at Heritage Square.
The Portland-based developer envi-
sions a building downtown that com-
bines units for lower-wage work-
ers with supportive housing for
people in treatment for mental health
and substance abuse and at risk of
homelessness.
While there has been a lot of scru-
tiny about the concept, particularly the
mental health component, the idea is
not new or untested.
Amy Baker, the executive direc-
tor of Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare,
which is partnering with Edlen & Co.
on the project, said people do not need
to look far to find similar developments.
“I think that if you look at other
programs around the state — or even
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare pro-
grams — you’ll see that folks who
are housed are stable,” Baker told The
Astorian in January. “You just have to
look to other communities to see that
it’s actually worked.”
The concept at Heritage Square is
based, in part, on Cascadia Behavioral
Healthcare’s Garlington Center cam-
pus in Portland.
The campus includes two build-
ings that sit on a block on N.E. Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and back
into a quiet residential neighborhood
SALEM — State lawmakers have voted
overwhelmingly in favor of new logging
standards negotiated by timber and envi-
ronmental groups under the Private Forest
Accord compromise.
Senate Bill 1501, which enshrines the
deal into law, was approved by the state
House on Thursday in a 43-15 vote. The
Senate on Wednesday voted 22 to 5 for the
legislation.
Representatives of timber and environ-
mental groups struck the deal last year after
a year of talks mediated by the office of
Gov. Kate Brown, who convened the panel
in 2020 to avoid competing ballot mea-
sures on forestry regulations.
“Thank you to legislators from both
parties for coming together to pass this his-
toric legislative package,” Brown said in a
statement. “The Private Forest Accord is
a perfect example of the Oregon Way —
Oregonians coming together to find com-
mon ground, to the mutual benefit of us all.
“Together, this agreement will help
to ensure that Oregon continues to have
healthy forests, fish and wildlife, as well
as economic growth for our forest indus-
try and rural communities, for generations
to come. I would like to thank everyone
involved for their role in making this agree-
ment a reality today.”
The 44-page bill would expand no-har-
vest buffers around streams, implement
stricter requirements for road-building,
P
A $200M state investment
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Garlington Center in Portland opened in 2018.
in the Albina area.
One of the buildings houses the
Garlington Health Center, which pro-
vides integrated health care services,
such as mental health and substance
abuse treatment, primary care and
wellness programs. The building also
has a pharmacy, community rooms
and showers, washers and dryers for
people who are homeless.
Next to the health center is Garling-
ton Place, a 52-unit affordable housing
apartment building that serves Casca-
dia Behavioral Healthcare clients, for-
merly homeless veterans and people
who qualify for the city’s North and
Northeast preference policy, which
gives priority to people with ties to the
historically Black neighborhoods.
Residents also have access to a
part-time resident services coordinator
and an on-site property manager.
The health center and apartment
building opened in 2018. The housing
units were fully leased and occupied
within a month.
Gov. Kate Brown has praised legis-
lative approval of her $200 million job
training plan known as Future Ready
Oregon.
The plan in Senate Bill 1545 focuses
on future jobs in health care, construc-
tion and manufacturing, along with train-
ing for people who often have been left
behind in past economic recoveries.
It was developed by the governor’s
Racial Justice Council — which Brown
formed in the aftermath of the 2020
national protests following the murder
of George Floyd by Minneapolis police
— plus business interests, regional work-
force development panels and others.
“Now, it’s time to roll up our sleeves
and get to work to build a skilled and
diverse workforce,” Brown said in a
statement after the state House passed it
on a 48-10 vote Thursday.
See Garlington, Page A6
See Job training, Page A6
‘An amazing show of community love’
Trail improved at
Deadman’s Cove
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT,
Wash. — Hikers are celebrating
significant safety enhancements to
the trail down to Deadman’s Cove
in Ilwaco.
The improvements to the route
to the scenic inlet in the basalt
cliffs at Washington state’s south-
western tip are thanks to Jon and
Sara Swanson and their two sons,
Blaine, 12, and Blake, 9.
“The Swanson family is much
appreciated for improving our
stairs down Deadman’s Cave to
watch the beautiful sunsets for
many nights to come,” shared
Keowah Iyall on the Long Beach
Peninsula Friends of Facebook
page. “They have already put in
over 100 hours of their own time.”
Deborah
Bergren
Mather
labeled it, “an amazing show of
community love.”
Nellie Hux, one of the site’s
most talented photographers, added
her thanks. “It’s too pretty a place
to keep closed,” she posted, with
yet another stellar scenic photo.
Nellie Hux
See Trail, Page A6
Deadman’s Cove in Ilwaco is newly accessible after a yearslong safety closure.