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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2020)
Take virtual tour of Clatsop Forest’s Soapstone Lake Lower Nehalem Watershed Council is sponsoring a vir- tual presentation June 11 by Trailkeepers of Oregon. Brandon Tigner, Josh Durham and Zac Mallon will lead the discussion on “Soapstone Collaborations: Creeks, Salmon, and Trails,” which includes the group’s vision and community col- laboration efforts for Soap- stone Lake in the Clatsop State Forest. The popular lake, hiking trail and stream system is managed by the Oregon De- partment of Forestry. The loop trail goes through second-growth coastal forest, past the pioneer homestead of Erik Lindgren, and around the lake. June 5, 2020 T he C olumbia P ress 12 Soapstone Lake is in the Clatsop State Forest off the Neca- nicum High- way south of Highway 26. Photo courtesy Lower Nehalem Watershed Council Old beaver dams can be seen at the south end of the lake, which also is home to trout, newts, and a variety of waterfowl. The presentation includes a discussion of the habitat around Soapstone Lake, a new community trail mainte- nance proposal, fish habitat enhancements, and ways to get involved. Tigner has spent the last two seasons as a Trail Crew Leader with the Washing- ton Trails Association and recently became the North Coast stewardship coordina- tor for Trailkeepers. Durham is South Coast stewardship coordinator and has trails experience in the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood, and in the Wil- lamette National Forest. Mallon is council coordina- tor with the watershed coun- cil. The event is free at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11, on Facebook Live, https:// www.facebook.com/ events/538534710146889. Flag retirement will be different A public retirement of American flags, usually held on Flag Day at Fort Stevens State Park, has been cancelled due to con- cerns about the spread of COVID-19. The Astoria Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, which sponsors the flag retirement, will in- stead retire the flags pri- vately at another location. Anyone with flags that need to be retired can con- tact any DAR member or save them until next year. Flag Day falls on June 14 this year. The chapter recently rec- ognized Tyler Ernst, a se- nior at Neah-Kah-Nie High School, as this year’s Good Citizen award recipient. Those interested in be- coming a DAR member or learning more about the group should call Regis- trar Sue Glen at 503-861- 0574. Fort Clatsop offers online camps Registration opens Satur- day, June 6, for the first vir- tual Nature Adventure and Nature Survival Camps at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. The online camps are in July. Nature Adventure Camp will take place from 10 a.m. to noon daily July 6 through 10. Each day, campers can par- ticipate in activities from their home as led by counsel- ors live and online. Nature Adventure Camp is open to children entering fourth through sixth grade in the 2020-21 school year. Nature Survival Camp runs from 10 a.m. to noon July 13 through 17 and is designed for those enter- ing seventh through ninth grades. Campers will get activities appropriate for teenagers. Registration is free, al- though an optional activity pack with supplies for each day’s events is $50. Registration is limited to 25 campers for each camp. Participation requires the ability for campers to have access to internet, and to have technological capacity to sign onto a conference de- livery platform such as We- bEx. For more information or to request a registration form, email Lewi_Education@nps. gov.