The Columbia Press Celebrating our 100th year • 1922-2022 1 50 ¢ September 23, 2022 503-861-3331 Vol. 6, Issue 38 Port rehab is high priority for Oregon Photos by Steve Holstein A bull elk charges a compact car in Hammond. Living with elk brings charm, challenges By Cindy Yingst The Columbia Press Every community has a rowdy time. Miami has spring break, the Amish have rumspringa, and Sturgis has the world’s larg- est motorcycle rally. Elk season is our girls gone wild/men behaving badly equiv- alent. As the North Coast makes its way through mating season, male elk are itching for a fight. In the past week there have been cases of elk challenging rec- reational trail users and pets. Several have taken on drivers and vehicles, which must appear to the bull brain as competi- tion for the ladies. An elk makes lunch of the Calls for help for protection from landscaping in downtown elk that were ramming cars were Warrenton. recorded by police dispatch at Fort Christine Bridgens See ‘Elk’ on Page 4 County salmon catch valued at more than $2 million More than $2 million in salmon was caught last year in areas managed by Clatsop County’s Fisheries program. Data from the 2020-21 commercial salmon harvest showed that 812,712 pounds of fish were caught in the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) sites in the lower Columbia. “The Pacific Northwest has a long history of commercial fishing,” said Steve Meshke, the county’s natural resources manager. “However, with- out Clatsop County’s fisheries pro- gram and other partnerships, today’s local commercial salmon fishing in- dustry would struggle to survive.” The local program was founded in 1975 and is a collaboration of the county, the fishing industry, and state and federal agencies. Together they develop and maintain the fishery without interfering with wild salmon runs, allowing catches at SAFE sites without adversely affecting protected native stocks. The program operates one hatchery on the south fork of the Klaskanine River south of Astoria, and net-pen sites at Youngs Bay, Tongue Point and Blind Slough in Brownsmead. Along with supporting the SAFE fishery, fish from the county program also are harvested by other commer- cial and recreational ocean and river fisheries. For the 2022-23 season, the coun- ty’s goal is to rear and release close to 7 million spring chinook, fall chinook and coho salmon. The Columbia Press The Port of Astoria decided this week to hire a manager for its mas- sive rehabilitation project at Pier 2. “It’s in a pretty dilapidated condi- tion,” Matt McGrath, the port’s dep- uty executive director, told commis- sioners Tuesday. “It’s our highest priority. We’ve got further damage happening now and are making tem- porary repairs just to get us by.” Pier 2 is home to three seafood processors, commercial fishing op- erations, and the oil-spill response vessel Oregon Responder. Three new multi-tenant industrial buildings are proposed there as part of the Central Waterfront Master Plan. Commissioners took the advice of port attorney Eileen Eakins and agreed to solicit bids for a construc- tion manager/general contractor (CMGC). “It’s an untraditional contract,” Eakins told them. “This is such a big project. There’s not enough exper- tise on staff to shepherd the project along.” The project needs to be designed in conjunction with an engineer, per- mitted, and constructed. Cost for the rehabilitation and a timeline for completion haven’t been determined. A CMGC would be in charge of “en- suring we’re getting the best long- term solution and ensuring we’re keeping costs manageable,” McGrath said. The port plans to use state grants for much of the project and use of a special manager is justifiable and de- fensible, he said. “We’re the highest priority project in the entire region.”