APRIL 24, 2015 • VOL. 39, ISSUE 9
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Celebrating 30 years of HRAP
The mission to
protect Haystack Rock
through education
carries on
HRAP volunteer
Michael Loft us,
foreground, gath-
ers up HRAP’s
equipment with
volunteers Nadine
Nordquist, back-
ground left , and
lead interpreter
Lisa Habecker,
background right,
aft er a morning
shift on the beach.
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
Haystack Rock, that towering 235-
foot monolith of the Cannon Beach
coastline and Oregon’s signature sea
stack, is a locus of biodiversity, a sub-
MHFW RI VFLHQWL¿F UHVHDUFK D FDWDO\VW
for community involvement and a
source of shared wonderment.
While the iconic formation is a
nesting, breeding and hunting ground
for sundry bird species, the rocks and
tide pools at its base support mus-
sels, chitons, sea stars, barnacles and
other creatures of the rocky intertidal
zone.
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
The site, which is part national
wildlife refuge and part state-protected
marine garden, draws about 200,000
visitors annually, mostly during the
summer months, according to the city.
And, between February and Sep-
tember, when the tides are low (aka
“beach season”), tens of thousands of
these visitors interact with a team of
interpreters distinguishable by their
red jackets and eagerness to educate.
These are the staff and volunteers
of the Haystack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram (HRAP), which this year cele-
brates its 30th anniversary as a full-
scale city program.
See HRAP, Page 12A
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER BURKETT
“Cottonwood and Light,” by Christopher Burkett, is on
display at Northwest By Northwest Gallery.
Masters of
scenery
Spring Unveiling
features photographer
Christopher Burkett, painter
Shirley Gittelsohn
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Cannon Beach’s version of Hands Across the Sand took place April 19 in front of Haystack Rock, Day No. 9 of the city’s
Twelve Days of Earth Day celebration.
Hands across the
sands of Cannon Beach
I
n front of Haystack Rock on April 19, North Coast
residents joined hands for 15 minutes of pro-ocean
solidarity during Cannon Beach’s “Hands Across the
Sand,” one of the city’s Twelve Days of Earth Day
events.
Their statement: to draw a line in the sand, physi-
cally and metaphorically, against offshore oil drilling,
deepwater drilling, offshore seismic testing and other
practices viewed as environmentally unsafe.
Nothing of that nature has taken place off of Can-
non Beach’s shores, and Cannon Beach-ers want to
keep it that way.
Hands Across the Sand — an international obser-
vance where people gather to support renewable en-
ergy and energy independence — began in 2010 after
the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Cannon Beach
has observed it for the last few years.
This month’s event was led by Christen Allsop, own-
er of Cannon Beach Yoga Arts, who instructed the 12
participants on ujjayi breathing.
Another Hands Across the Sand in Cannon Beach
is scheduled for May 16, as part of the worldwide
Hands Across the Sand event.
Photography is both a
literal and an interpretive
art, said Christopher Bur-
kett, a Milwaukie-based
color photographer of the
American landscape.
The camera can cap-
ture the subject as reality
presents it, or, rather, as
most people see it. Yet the
¿QDO LPDJH ² WKH FRQ
tent, the perspective, the
embellishments or lack
thereof — captures some-
thing of the photographer,
too: not just his skill level
but his attitude toward the
subject.
So where, then, does
reality end and interpreta-
tion begin?
Feel free to ask Burkett
that very question when
he arrives in Cannon
Beach to discuss his craft
and unveil new works
in progress at 2:20 p.m.
May 2 at Northwest By
Northwest Gallery, 232 N.
Spruce St., where he has
shown his prints for more
than 25 years. Burkett is
the only photographer
having a special showcase
during the Cannon Beach
Gallery Group’s 15th an-
nual Spring Unveiling
Arts Festival, held city-
wide May 1 through 3.
Mentored by Ansel Ad-
ams, a black-and-white
landscape photographer,
Burkett has shot in all 50
states in his 40 years as
a photographer. He has
been featured on Oregon
Public Broadcasting’s Or-
egon Art Beat,
Burkett works in tra-
ditional (i.e., nondigi-
WDO ¿QH DUW SKRWRJUDSK\
which means he spends
long hours in his dark-
room, developing his own
¿OPDQGPDNLQJKLVSULQWV
E\ KDQG (VFKHZLQJ ¿O
ters and Photoshop, he
opts for natural light and
color.
The way he tells it,
Burkett is “just represent-
ing what’s real.”
“And that’s one of the
strengths of traditional
photography, is that, es-
sentially, because of its
limitations compared to
digital, you can trust the
image more than you can
a digital image in gener-
al,” he said. Digital im-
ages, of course, can be
tweaked to no end.
A devout Christian
known for his pictures of
See Arts, Page 5A
Spring Unveiling Arts Guide
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
Hand-in-hand before Haystack Rock, Stacy Bene-
fi eld, left , and Mindy Hardwick show solidarity
with other supporters (not pictured) of Cannon
Beach’s coastal environmental.
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Th e art of storytelling
“Get Lit” covers writing,
reading, ‘50 Shades of Grey’
By Erick Bengel
Cannon Beach Gazette
It wasn’t until day No. 2 of this year’s “Get Lit at the Beach”
that Jennifer Romo, from Redding, Calif., worked up the cour-
age to tell Terry Brooks, a bestselling fantasy author and Can-
non Beach resident, that she believes his books saved her life.
Keeping most details off the record, Romo said that Brooks’
“Shannara” series, which she discovered as a teenager living in
Alaska, gave her a comforting place to return to, a shelter of the
imagination, while the rest of her life was barely tolerable. The
characters, Romo said, are “so real and alive” that, while turn-
ing the pages, she could be more concerned about their plight
than her own.
$IUDLGDW¿UVWWKDWVKHPLJKWFU\WKURXJKKHUHQFRXQWHU
ERICK BENGEL PHOTO
with Brooks, Romo managed to keep her composure. “I did
get kind of emotional when I told him, but I didn’t full-out cry Th e fi ve guest authors held a candid Q-and-A panel, moderated by Terry Brooks, center,
before an audience at the Coaster Th eatre Playhouse on the third and fi nal day of Get
cry,” she said.
Lit at the Beach. From left : Jim Lynch, Nancy Pearl, Brooks, Gail Tsukiyama and Karen
See Storytelling, Page 7A Joy Fowler.