A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022
Sea stars: ‘More than anything, it’s just a sigh of relief’
Continued from Page A1
Commission to consider ban-
ning all harvest on sea stars.
For local conservation and
education groups, the com-
mission’s vote is welcome
news.
“More than anything, it’s
just a sigh of relief,” said
Kelli Ennis, the director for
the Haystack Rock Aware-
ness Program in Cannon
Beach. “Kind of positive
reassurance that it won’t be
happening.”
Ennis and volunteers and
staff with the awareness pro-
gram regularly monitor sea
stars in and around Haystack
Rock, looking for signs of
the wasting syndrome. No
harvest of any animals is
allowed on the iconic rock,
but Ennis has heard about
people shucking off sea stars
at other locations. Any lit-
tle bit of protection will help,
she said .
In recent years, the Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram has seen positive signs
of improvement among sea
stars around Haystack Rock.
In survey data from Sep-
tember, 12% to 15% of the
sea star population around
Haystack Rock still showed
signs of the wasting syn-
drome, but nothing severe,
Ennis said. They saw minor
lesions, not the full jelly-like
disintegration of years past.
None of the sea stars were
actively missing limbs.
“We’re kind of optimis-
Katie Frankowicz/KMUN
Sea stars cluster on a barnacle and mussel-covered rock near Cannon Beach.
tic,” Ennis said.
Sea stars are considered
a keystone species, a major
predator in their corner of the
intertidal ecosystem. When
sea star populations drop sud-
denly, there are downstream
eff ects on the entire ecosys-
tem. When sea star wasting
syndrome hit British Colum-
bia in Canada in 2015, the
sudden die-off of sea stars
showed researchers exactly
how important the animals
were to kelp forests and in
keeping sea urchin popula-
tions in check.
For the Fish and Wild-
life Commission and staff ,
it doesn’t matter that recre-
ational harvest of the sea stars
is very low. There is high pub-
lic interest in sea star conser-
vation and, Rumrill told com-
missioners, “This is a prudent
management action at this
time to demonstrate the com-
mitment to conservation.”
The state has also con-
tributed original data to the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration as the
agency considers possible
listing for the sunfl ower sea
star under the Endangered
Species Act.
The state hopes to hear
back from NOAA by mid-
summer about what type of
status might be assigned to
the sunfl ower sea star.
Mary Wahl, the chair-
woman of the Fish and Wild-
life Commission, asked if the
sunfl ower species belongs on
Oregon’s endangered spe-
cies list, regardless of what
NOAA decides.
“I personally believe that
it does at this point,” Rumrill
answered.
Sunfl ower sea stars live
farther out than the fi ve-
armed ochre sea stars many
people are used to seeing
in tide pools on the North
Coast. The large sunfl ower
sea stars can have as many
as 24 limbs and are rare vis-
itors to the intertidal zone.
They might show up in crab
pots, but there has not ever
been recreational harvest of
the animals.
Still, Rumrill assured
Wahl, there are internal
discussions about how to
address this particular spe-
cie s’ declining numbers.
Rumrill also pointed to
hopeful news coming out of
the University of Washing-
ton, where researchers have
successfully reared sunfl ower
sea stars in captivity.
The team responsible for
the work wrapped up a fund-
raiser this month and hopes
to work on experimental
wild reintroduction of cap-
tive-raised juvenile sea stars
this year.
This story is part of a col-
laboration between The Asto-
rian and Coast Community
Radio.
Port: ‘I think the cruise industry could be one of the slowest to get back’
Continued from Page A1
been big for the Port.
“It’s defi nitely been a
struggle,” Isom said. “There
have been a number of ways
that we’ve tried to miti-
gate some of the negative
eff ects.”
Since the pandemic
started, the Port has signifi -
cantly reduced administra-
tive and maintenance staff .
The Port is working with
Business Oregon to get a
deferment on some out-
standing debt.
As the cruise ship indus-
try slowly returns, the Port is
also working through a num-
ber of logistical challenges .
“In some ways, it feels
like we are starting new and
even as we, hopefully, get
on the back end of COVID,
there are some consider-
ations that we haven’t really
had in the past,” Isom said
at the Port’s fi nance meeting
last week.
In the past , the Port has
relied on the Sunset Empire
Transportation District to
provide buses and driv-
ers for cruise ship passen-
gers that fl ow into Asto-
ria. But the transit district,
which is working through a
bus driver shortage, does not
have the capacity this year.
Isom added that the Port
has also heavily depended
on Clatsop Cruise Hosts, a
volunteer group dedicated to
welcoming cruise ship pas-
sengers into the community.
But many of the volunteers
are retired or older, so he is
unsure of their plans amid
the pandemic.
“We’re doing our best to
proceed as if it’s best-case
scenario, but we also under-
stand that we may not com-
pletely be out of the woods
and of all industries, I think
the cruise industry could be
one of the slowest to get
back to whatever normal is,”
he said.
Conner reiterated his
assurances about safety as
thousands of cruise ship
passengers are set to enter
the community, noting that
cruise lines have high vac-
cination rates and virus
protocols.
Looking ahead, even
with this year’s cancella-
tions, Conner has faith that
2023 could be as strong as
ever, with people eager to go
on cruises again.
Consult a
Simmons: ‘It’s going to be there forever’ PROFESSIONAL
Continued from Page A1
Simmons had discov-
ered the skeleton of what
turned out to be an extinct
giant ground sloth. The
creature, Megalonyx jef-
fersonii, likely roamed the
area 12,000 years before
the fi rst Starbucks. It gets
its name from Thomas Jef-
ferson, who, before he was
president, wrote a scien-
tifi c paper in 1797 about
a similar fi nd in a western
Virginia cave, erroneously
thinking it a tiger-like cat.
In fact, the sloths were her-
bivores which evolved from
creatures in South America.
It is among prized exhib-
its at the museum, which
adjoins the campus of the
University of Washington
in northeast Seattle. The
fossil has been on display
since 1977, but it was only
recently that museum staff
decided to offi cially name
it.
“Gordy” was the inevita-
ble choice.
‘THE GUYS
WERE MAD
AT ME
BECAUSE
WE LOST
THREE
DAYS’
WORK!’
Gordy Simmons |
1961 fossil fi nder
boomed with the Century
21 Exposition of 1962 and
construction of landmarks,
including roads and bridges
that shaped today’s city. He
recalls watching construc-
tion of the Space Needle,
although that was not one
of his projects.
Now 87 and retired in
Skamokawa, he treasures
memories of his Ilwaco
days, growing up in a house
near the city ball fi eld, and
later the tale of his dramatic
fossil fi nd.
Daughter Dianna John-
son, who lives in Kirkland,
remembers growing up
with the family legend. “He
has talked about this several
times over the course of my
life,” she said. “He is great
at telling stories and there
are so many wonderful tid-
bits about this.”
Having the fossil named
for him had signifi cance.
“That was one of his
dreams,” she said. “It meant
so much to him.”
‘Claws’
‘Amazing’
Greg Wilson Mantilla,
curator of vertebrate pale-
ontology at the Burke, con-
ceded that it is not com-
mon to name exhibits.
“But there are some fos-
sils that are either so com-
plete or important that they
are beloved and you fi nd
yourself wanting to iden-
tify them more intimately,”
he said.
“Really this fossil is
one of my favorite fossils
in the museum. It captures
so many interesting stories
about our region.”
He noted that its modern
discovery and the link with
Jeff erson — even though
his conclusions were erro-
neous — make it a memo-
rable artifact.
“And it is very, very
complete for a fossil. Usu-
ally we only get a few
bones here and there, but
this thing is 90-some per-
cent complete, only missing
the skull that was destroyed
in the discovery.
“When I have guests,
or do a tour, I always stop
there and connect people to
this amazing prehistory and
recent history.”
Simmons
attended
Ilwaco High School, where
he had four years’ success
in football and excelled in
track, earning kudos for
long jump and sprints. He
married his high school
sweetheart, Irene, and
they had fi ve children who
all still live in Washing-
ton state, plus nine grand-
children and four great
grandchildren.
After he graduated with
the Class of 1954, he spent
a year studying at Grays
Harbor while Irene com-
pleted her senior year, and
then they were married.
His career took him to the
greater Seattle area, which
A carefully researched
article by David. B. Wil-
liams published in 2010 on
the Seattle-based history
website www.historylink.
org highlighted how Sim-
mons, then working for the
Sellen Construction Co.,
spotted the bones sticking
out of a recently excavated
14-foot-deep hole dug for
an anchor for a lighting
tower.
Museum experts dug
and discovered a signifi cant
portion of the skeleton —
but no intact head. A plaster
skull was added to the real
bones to give the museum
display more visual impact.
The pelvis, which was
recovered, was reported to
be 45 inches wide, but sci-
entists have not established
its gender.
Williams quoted a Seattle
Times story in which How-
ard A. Coombs, chairman
of the University of Wash-
ington geology department,
commented about its condi-
tion. “You can even see the
tiny scars left by muscles,”
Coombs told the newspa-
per. “All we have to do to
clean them is to put them
under the faucet. Usually
you have to chip old bones
out of hardened soil.”
Williams’ article high-
lighted how the creatures
lived in a period that fol-
lowed the last ice age. “A
post-glacial habitat of for-
ests, lakes and bogs pro-
vided a diverse food supply
for large herbivores such
as giant ground sloths,” he
wrote. “They chewed twigs
and leaves with short and
stout grinding teeth. They
could have used their large
claws for hooking branches
or possibly for defense.”
The museum has 73,000
fossils in its collection,
gathered from all seven
continents, including mam-
mals, birds, dinosaurs, rep-
tiles, amphibians and fi sh.
Its staff posted about the
sloth on its Facebook page
on Valentine’s Day in Feb-
ruary, the anniversary of the
fi nd in 1961.
Simmons recalled it was
a while before he saw the
exhibit displaying his fos-
sil at its full height. Origi-
nally, it wasn’t displayed as
an 11-foot tall beast. “When
I did get to see it I thought,
‘Gee, what a deal!’ It looks
like a big deer, except it has
a claw.”
His conversations with
staff , when he revealed he
believed he was the only
surviving member of the
crew that found the bones,
led to close links with the
museum and eventually the
naming decision.
“It’s going to be there
forever,” Simmons said.
“But that’s not my greatest
achievement in this world.
Marrying my wife was. We
have been married 66 years.
What a wonderful time we
have had all these years.”
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