10A • August 28, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Conservationists fight worrisome weed Charter school
public hearing will
continue Sept. 15
Tansy ragwort
can threaten
livestock
By McKinley Smith
EO Media Group
School from Page 1A
Beneath the sun-yellow
blossoms of invasive tansy
ragwort plants that coat the
¿eld south of Seaside, a revo-
lution is taking place. Millions
of native plants are growing
within and around the clumps
of tansy ragwort. They’re
small now, but they’re getting
bigger.
“Underneath this canopy
… is many, many millions of
alder,” said Melissa Reich, the
stewardship director for North
Coast Land Conservancy.
Tansy ragwort is an in-
vasive species that produces
alkaloids, which can present
a danger to livestock if in-
gested. During the 1960s and
’70s, the agriculture industry
sustained heavy losses due
to livestock deaths and tan-
sy ragwort contamination of
hay and pastures, according
to an Oregon Department
of Agriculture and Oregon
State University Extension
Service article.
It’s a visible species, and
the conservancy wants the
public to know that they’re
not ignoring the weed.
They’ve got a long-term
management strategy they
hope will overthrow the hold
tansy ragwort has on their
Àood plain by restoring the
native habitat.
But teacher’s union rep-
resentative Meyer said the
charter school could get the
“cream of the crop” of stu-
dents, with a prospect of
smaller classes and more fa-
vorable student-teacher ratio
because of its 85-student ca-
pacity.
“So the haves get more,
and the have-nots walk into
my classroom of 32 to 33
kids,” he said. “Man, that’s
not a level playing ¿eld.”
Meyer said he also wasn’t
happy about the school dis-
trict potentially losing four
teachers due to a decrease in
students so the charter can
exist.
The charter’s teachers
would be under a different
contract and accountability
system, Meyer said, and not
part of a team.
Residents disputed Mey-
er’s charge of elitism.
“We don’t want a school
there because we think we’re
better than anyone else,”
Cannon Beach resident Susan
Neuwirth said. “We want a
school because we live there.”
Kevin Widener of Seaside
said the discussion should be
about “what is best for the
kids.”
Disturbed habitats
Tansy ragwort favors dis-
turbed habitats where weak-
nesses in the native Àora
community allow it to take
hold.
“We’re not trying to pre-
tend that tansy’s good,” Re-
ich said. “It’s de¿nitely an
invasive plant.”
“In the long run, we’re
going to get rid of tansy by
shading it out,” she added.
“It’s not being ignored.”
In 2013, the berm between
the Necanicum River and the
MCKINLEY SMITH/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
North Coast Land Conservancy Stewardship Director Melissa Reich stands beside a clump
of invasive tansy ragwort on the Circle Creek property in Seaside.
MCKINLEY SMITH/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
MCKINLEY SMITH/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Tansy ragwort is an invasive
species that can grow abun-
dantly in disturbed areas.
North Coast Land Conservancy Stewardship Director Me-
lissa Reich stands beneath the canopy of a stand of trees the
group planted to restore the Circle Creek property in Seaside.
Circle Creek property south
of Seaside came down as part
of a multiagency effort to re-
store a historic 100-acre Àood
plain and prevent water from
Àooding U.S. Highway 101.
The North Coast Land
Conservancy partnered with
Clatsop County and the Ore-
gon Department of Transpor-
tation in the project.
Now, what had once been
pastureland of non-native
grasses is undergoing a trans-
formative process.
The conservancy is work-
ing to restore the habitat to a
healthy Àood plain forest, in-
cluding Sitka spruce swamp.
They’ve seeded the ground
with native grasses and
shrubs. The last two winters,
they’ve planted more than
20,000 trees and shrubs.
Mowing forever
Mowing the pasture would
endanger the plants they’ve
worked so hard to cultivate
and lock them into a manage-
ment plan that relies on regu-
lar mowing to keep the weeds
under control.
“We’d be committing to
mowing it forever,” Reich said.
Instead, they’re following
recommendations from the Ex-
tension Service, relying on tan-
sy ragwort’s insect antagonists:
the cinnabar moth, ragwort Àea
beetle and seed head Ày.
These insect biocontrols
keep the tansy ragwort in
check, but eliminating the tan-
Live Local?
sy knocks out the biocontrol,
too, leaving it a step behind
the plant the next year.
The landscape is already
changing. The conservancy
placed leashed pilings across
the Àood plain to create
changes in elevation across the
largely Àat plain. Sometimes,
less than a foot can make a dif-
ference between being under-
water or above it, Reich said.
The plain can be several feet
underwater during Àooding,
and the pilings will change the
way the water moves, allow-
ing microhabitats to form.
“This excites me,” Reich
said, remarking on the height of
the alder saplings. “They’re go-
ing to come in and make good
habitat for the other species.”
The challenges
The obstacles for most
charter schools in Oregon are
¿nances and safety, said -im
Green, an attorney for the
Seaside School District from
the Oregon School Board As-
sociation.
Cannon Beach Academy
is asking the district to trust it
with kids and taxpayer mon-
ey, Green added. “Your real
interest in this is to ensure
they are going to do good
things for boys and girls in
your community,” he said.
Cannon Beach resident
Mary Peterson expressed
concern for children’s safety
with area traf¿c in the pro-
posed location. The charter’s
temporary location sits near
a Highway 101 exit. She said
she grew up in a rural school
and was happy to move to
a larger one in high school
where there were more op-
portunities.
Getting its schools out of
the tsunami inundation zone
has been a focus of the Sea-
side School District.
Hull noted the charter
school’s short-term facility is
out of that zone, less than 200
yards away from an assembly
area.
Hull, who helped open
three charter schools in the
state, addressed another “hot
button topic” by stating the
district could receive a net
gain of about $362,000 if
it approves the academy. It
would do so through methods
including the collection of 20
percent of the charter’s state
ADM money and reducing
its staff.
And Green said he would
go over the budget with the
academy’s board before Sea-
side’s next meeting.
If the school district says
no for a third time, Cannon
Beach Academy could again
appeal to the State Board of
Education.
The charter school aims
to open in the fall 2016 and
be in its temporary location
for about three years before
settling into a permanent
building on the South Wind
site, south of town and east of
Highway 101.
Hull said they’d like to
start hiring early next year if
the district accepts the acad-
emy’s proposal. It’s already
received inquiries from po-
tential teachers.
The public hearing will
continue Sept. 15. The school
board will then have 30 days
to issue a decision.
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Coast Rehabilitation Services is
seeking caring and compassionate
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The Lanai in Seaside is seeking
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City of Warrenton, Oregon
ACCOUNTANT II: Salary Range $
3,796.32 – 4,614.40 mo.
+ excellent benefits. FT exempt
position. Under supervision of
Finance Director, performs all
duties related to processing
payroll and benefits administration.
Performs a wide variety of
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validation, examination, coding,
reporting, review, and
reconciliation of fiscal, financial and
statistical records, assists finance
director in daily department
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For more details see job description
provided in application packet.
REQUIRES: Associate Degree in
accounting or related field with a
Bachelor Degree given
preference. At least three years of
progressive experience performing
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level professional office
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OPEN UNTIL: September 4, 2015
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regarding the position
call (503) 325-4455.
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Astoria Dental Group
seeks full time, 5 days/week,
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Required skills include excellent
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Escape Lodging Company
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Tyack Dental Group
433 30th St.
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(503)338-6000
Our culture honors hard work,
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In addition to offering a very
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offers many benefits to our
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Clatskanie Peopleʼs Utility District
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Compensation based on
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Applications due 09/18/2015 &
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Positions currently available
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Positions are available at the
Inn at Cannon Beach.
Must be available to work a flexible
schedule, including weekends.
Customer Service Representative
We are looking for an energetic
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PO Box 657, Astoria, OR 97103
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Now hiring FT Asst Manager and
PT sales – must love to sell
Please apply in store or
email resume to
barb.agnew@eddiebauer.com
Please apply in person at the
Inn at Cannon Beach
(3215 S Hemlock, Cannon Beach).
If you have any questions, please
contact Terri at
terri@innatcannonbeach.com
or call (503) 436-9085.
Food workers wanted for Hood to
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for more info contact Carmen at:
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Front Desk Audit.
Swing, 24-32 hours.
Send inquires to
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