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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2021)
January 1, 2021 The Columbia Press 3 Child’s body Columbia River temperature rising, wetlands decreasing last five years scale losses in families of The Columbia River remains have brought some species, such as pollinators has been through some of the warmest tem- and songbirds. changes in the unidentified major • Habitat – In the past five peratures in record- past five years and even State police seek the pub- lic’s help in identifying the body of a child found in rural Lincoln County. The body was found Dec. 10 in H.B. Van Duzer Forest State Scenic Corridor, a heav- ily wooded state park. The child was female, 6 ½ to 10 years old, with long dark brown or black hair. Her race or ethnic origin hadn’t been determined. Due to the condition of the remains, she had likely been dead at least 30 days before she was discovered. Anyone with information is asked to call 800-442-0776 or *OSP (*677). Sculpture to be dedicated in spring The installation of artwork planned this week at Warren- ton Community Library will be delayed. An official dedication cer- emony will take place in the spring, which should pose fewer COVID-19 concerns, City Commissioner Rick Newton said. Newton, along with Spruce Up Warrenton, paid for the metal sculptures of children reading. The sculptures were completed last week by Pa- cific Fabrication, a company owned by Pacific Seafood. Officer graduates from academy Seaside Police Officer Jen- son Segui will graduate from the 402nd police academy conducted by the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. Graduation is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, in Sa- lem. ed history to the re- more profound chang- gion. Mainstem es in the past 150 years. Columbia water tem- The Lower Columbia peratures regular- Estuary Partnership ly exceed “threshold talks about success- temperatures” im- es and concerns in its portant for salm- just-published report on and steelhead from on the state of the riv- July through Septem- er. The nonprofit group ber, along with low- publishes a report every er dissolved oxygen five years that focus- levels. The report de- es on Columbia River tails efforts to enhance research, restoration, cold-water refuges for changes, progress and fish and highlights ad- emerging issues. The ditional issues such as last report was in 2015. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife “This report summa- A small boat operator struggles crossing the microplastics and cya- notoxins. rizes some of the signif- Columbia River Bar. • Endangered spe- icant issues facing the cies – Fifty-five species lower Columbia as well as the work being done to pro- of birds, fish and wildlife that To learn more tect and restore it,” said Elaine rely on the lower Columbia Placido, the group’s executive See the Lower Columbia River are listed or are can- director. “We hope this is a Estuary Partnership’s in- didate species under the En- useful tool that can be used to teractive report at estuary- dangered Species Act. Plants, learn, and that our analyses partnership.org/state-of-es- invertebrates and fungi also will help groups and agencies tuary-2020. are imperiled. The report de- advance their work to pro- scribes the status of “indi- tect our river.” cator” species and the large- ton upstream to Bonneville The Lower Columbia Estu- Dam — the farthest extent of ary Partnership was estab- lished in 1995 by the gov- tidal influence. Indigenous tribes man- ernors of Washington and aged the land along the river’s Oregon and the U.S. Environ- shores since time immemori- mental Protection Agency to al, the group says, but the wa- provide regional coordination tershed has been profoundly on preservation and improve- changed since European colo- ment efforts and to advance nization in the late 19th cen- science. tury. The group is required to re- Previous analysis found port on the river’s health ev- more than 50 percent of na- ery five years. tive habitat and 70 percent of While this year’s report is a historic tidal wetlands were bit different – it’s presented lost from the 1880s through as an interactive story pro- the 2010s. gression on the partnership’s To reverse the trend, a con- website – it focuses on many certed effort from the agen- of the same issues: habitat, cy and its regional partners land use, endangered species, has resulted in the protection water quality, and community or restoration of more than connections. 28,000 acres of habitat since The partnership is most con- 2003. cerned with what’s consid- Some key points found in ered the lower Columbia Riv- the 2020 report: er, which stretches from the • Water quality -- The mouth of the river in Warren- years, local groups have re- stored or protected 7,623 acres of habitat, a 20 percent increase over the previous five-year period, and three times what was accomplished from 2006 to 2010. While many of the straight- forward projects on pub- lic lands have been accom- plished, future gains will be more costly and challenging. • Land use – An analysis of land use found little signif- icant change from 2010 to 2015 (the most recent period for which data are available), with a very small increase in developed land (less than 1 percent) and a modest de- crease in wooded habitat (3 percent gain in forest and 13 percent decrease in scrub- shrub). • Connections – The part- nership reached more than 23,000 students and with them planted more than 75,000 streamside trees in the past five years.
