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.”