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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2015)
4A • September 25, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Land conservancy makes plea to save Boneyard Ridge G allery owners Paul and Lana Jane Brent split their time between the North Coast and Panama City, Florida. They opened their home this summer to friends of the North Coast Land Conservancy as an overture to new members and potential supporters of a land purchase that could be the ¿ nal MiJsaw piece unitinJ a critical parcel between Cannon Beach and Seaside. The Coastal (dJe ,nitiative fo cuses on the entire reJion stretchinJ from TillamooN +ead south to Ne halem Bay and extends east to the summits of the peaNs frontinJ the shoreline — “the headland that is visible from everywhere we are,” accordinJ to the conservancy¶s Executive Director Katie Voelke, a Cannon Beach resident. Properties supported in the ini tiative include Onion Peak, Ecola Creek Forest Reserve, Ecola Road Wetlands and Shorewood Wetland. Circle Creek, a acre proper ty in Seaside further lowland, was purchased by the conservancy in and is classi¿ ed as part of the Necanicum Wildlife Corridor ,nitiative — “but classi¿ cations are sTuishy,” Communications Co ordinator Bonnie Henderson said. “Some properties ¿ t into more than one initiative.” ,n 0ay, the conservancy an nounced intent to purchase the acre Boneyard RidJe property between Circle Creek and Ecola Forest Reserve. “,f you drive alonJ to south of Seaside and you¶re lookinJ across Necanicum to the Circle Creek property, all the land that rises above that, that¶s Boneyard RidJe,” Henderson said. “,t¶s a biJ part of Seaside¶s backdrop.” C ANNON S HOTS By R.J. MARX EverythinJ that lives in the coastal forest.” While the property does not have ocean access, conservancy mem bers intend to open Boneyard RidJe to the public. “,t would be a Jreat community bene¿ t, not to mention a incredible contiJuous wildlife habitat,” Hen derson said. Purchase price, and a goal in sight The site¶s dramatic name came from the discovery of elk bones by hunters on the property, she added.. The purchase would create 3,500 connected acres from the summit of Tillamook Head to the Necanicum River Valley. The conservancy¶s Joal is to allow the land to mature into a complex rain forest of the kind that once characteri]ed head lands all alonJ the OreJon Coast. “The biJ win here would be the entire rain forest,” she said. “All the trees that will be allowed to Jrow to maturity, and the understory plants. When that happens, and while it¶s happeninJ, do]ens of species bene ¿ t, from microorJanisms in the soil to little voles and redleJJed froJs on the forest À oor and owls above. AccordinJ to Voelke, the conser vancy is neJotiatinJ with landown ers GreenWood Resources, a Jlobal timber manaJement corporation, formerly known as Willamette, Weyerhaueser and Campbell — “same company, different name.” The price taJ for the property — “well over million” and possibly as hiJh as . million, accordinJ to Henderson, is considered within reach, especially with a $524,000 matchinJ fund Jrant from OreJon¶s Watershed Enhancement Board announced April 2. ,n addition, Henderson announced this week the conservancy raised an additional $500,000 from an anonymous donor. Those funds, she said, are not speci¿ cally earmarked for Boneyard RidJe but could be used for its purchase. Eff orts throughout the North Coast “Along with events in Seaside, over the next few years the conser- vancy will be reaching out even more to the community groups and individuals of Cannon Beach, Arch Cape, Falcon Cove, Arcadia Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem and others that skirt the edge in order to gain more insight and perspective into the conservation goals and community concerns, hopes, and wishes for their surround- ing landscape,” North Coast Land Conservancy Executive Director Katie Voelke said. Uncorked Ramblings SUBMITTED PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE North Coast Land Conservancy already conserves 387 acres on Onion Peak, east of Arch Cape. ,n midAuJust the conservancy received a Jrant of $5,000 from the 0eyer 0emorial Trust for the conservancy¶s efforts, alonJ with commitments from Cannon Beach Community Grants proJram and the 0arine Reserves partnership. “These donations are for the con servancy¶s conservation planninJ from the areas of Tillamook Head to Neahkahnie 0ountain,” Voelke said 0onday. “Support like these Jrants makes it possible for us to do the ontheJround work that leads to acquisitions such as Boneyard RidJe.” While neJotiations are far from complete, the conservancy hopes to raise the money by October 20, before the state Jrant expires. 0embers are con¿ dent they can raise what it takes. For one thinJ, they have a willinJ seller. “We only work with willinJ sell ers and these people are willinJ to sell it,” Henderson said. “That¶s a core piece of the land trust. We don¶t huJ trees and chain ourselves to anythinJ. ,f you want to sell, that¶s Jreat. We don¶t try to stronJarm anyone. ,f we can come up with the money by hook or by crook, Jreat. This is one of those properties.” With the clock tickinJ, the con servancy is in what Henderson called “fullbore” fundraisinJ mode from private citi]ens, public aJen cies and private foundations. The Circle Creek purchase in 2004 was made possible by the combined efforts of more than 50 individu als and orJani]ations. The North Coast Land Conservancy will have to duplicate those efforts to acquire Boneyard RidJe. “When you¶re on the hiJhway lookinJ up, wonderinJ, µ,s that pub lic land" Will it be harvested"¶ Will it always be there"¶ We have the chance,” Voelke said at the Brents¶ Seaside house party. “,f we all keep workinJ on this, it will. , will, hope fully, be here a year from now cele bratinJ that acquisition. “Cheers to here!” she added, a toast that seemed most appropriate. STEVEN SINKLER We’re looking forward to next year in wine country As thinJs in town have beJun to slow down, we¶ve already beJun the process of reviewinJ the 205 sum mer season and preparinJ both Provisions 24 and The Wine Shack for 20. ,¶m a ¿ rm believer that if you aren¶t workinJ to im prove your business, then you¶re JoinJ to fall behind your competition. ,n the wine business, competi tion is ¿ erce and it is ev erywhere: on the internet, in the supermarket, and in the customer¶s hometown wine shop. These are touJh competitors. Every week, we have more customers showinJ us wines, ratinJs and prices on their smart phones. ,t¶s clear that our customers have more ac cess to wine information than ever before. We opened the Provi sions 24 Jourmet market Must before the summer sea son kicked in and we set out to offer local, artisan and delicious products that you couldn¶t ¿ nd everywhere. For the most part, we¶ve ac complished that. Our small but miJhty cheese selection draws rave reviews with customers. , knew that peo ple were lookinJ for options other than those from larJe cheese factories, but we re ally didn¶t have an under standinJ of how much peo ple love their cheese. We do now. There have been a number of similar surprises and learninJs, but ,¶ll save those for another column. The Wine Shack has been a ¿ xture in Cannon Beach since . Since we purchased “The Shack” in 202, we¶ve made some smaller chanJes that may have Jone relatively un noticed, such as a new store layout and chanJinJ to Reidel Jlasses for wine tastinJ. We¶ve also made some more noticeable LET TERS Should you limb up evergreen trees? Should you limb up ev erJreen trees" The answer to this question is usually no. To remove full limbs from an everJreen tree is a very permanent decision that should be made care fully. For many everJreens, especially younJ pines and spruces of all aJes, the limb structure is part of what makes the tree stronJ. The lower limbs of the tree support the upper limbs in times of sever weather or heavy snow, and their re moval can have a perma nent effect on the tree. For aesthetic reasons, these branches are also best left untouched. There is no question that an everJreen tree looks best when Jrown in a natural state, with branches JrowinJ naturally from the Jround up. A pine tree will shed some lower branches as it aJes all by itself, where a spruce will normally stick close to the Jround forever if left un cut. Trees that are limbed up can look anythinJ from odd to plain silly. ,f you are considerinJ this pruninJ technique be cause a tree was planted in the wronJ spot such as riJht next to a sidewalk or drive way, a better solution may be removal and replantinJ the area with a proper tree. Diane Amos Elizabeth Lorish REX AMOS/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE An example of “toilet brush” pruning in Cannon Beach. STEVEN SINKLER chanJes, such as a new store loJo, new website, new À oorinJ, chanJinJ our wine selection to promote Paci¿ c Northwest wines and of course, openinJ up the wall and expandinJ the space with Provisions 24. We plan to keep improv inJ the interior of The Wine Shack. Planned improve ments for 20 include new enerJy ef¿ cient liJhtinJ, new wine racks, new inte rior siJnaJe and the addi tion of a couple of desiJn elements to Jive the store a more updated look and feel. , also expect that we¶ll make some adMustments to our wine selections as well. The interest in European wines continues to wane, while the interest in excellent local se lections continues to Jrow. The Wine Shack needs to be the “Jo to” place on the Or eJon Coast for the very ¿ n est wines from OreJon and WashinJton. The other area we will work on is improvinJ the customer experience and customer loyalty. We want to make sure customers have a Jood time while they¶re in our store and will come back to The Wine Shack the next time they are in Cannon Beach and rec ommend The Wine Shack to their friends. ,¶m terrible at rememberinJ custom ers¶ names and it doesn¶t help that we may only see a customer once or twice a year. Customers want to be appreciated and we¶ll work on identifyinJ our best customers and welcominJ them by name. We¶ll do more instore wine tastinJs as those seem to be the per fect way to Jet people to loosen up a bit and have a bit more fun while they¶re in the store. ,t¶s Jreat to have a cus tomer come into The Wine Shack once, but we really want to create a lifelonJ customer. The cash reJis ter system we use, Square Point of Service, will help us to improve customer loyalty. Square has recently added a customer database capability that will allow us to track our customer¶s purchase history. This is an enhancement that ,¶ve been askinJ Square to add for over a year. Last year, Square beJan offerinJ Jift cards and loyalty discount proJrams. We¶ve had suc cess with the loyalty dis count proJram, but we ha ven¶t used their Jift card proJram yet. , expect we¶ll be active in both proJrams in 20. We also plan to create a “wine club” so our cus tomers can Jet their Puf¿ n wine, OreJon pinot noir and WashinJton red wine throuJhout the year. We had planned to launch the wine club for 205, but that Jot put on hold once we start ed workinJ on Provisions 24. Customers who Moin the wine club will receive special perks and discounts, but we see this as our key customer Jroup who will Jet the very ¿ nest services we can provide. So, althouJh the qui et season is approachinJ, we have a lot on our “to do list.” We¶ll Jet crackin¶ on the list and see you the next time you visit Cannon Beach. Dedicated to saving region’s seabirds Wildlife Center of the North Coast honors late founder Sharnelle Fee Sharnelle Fee, a former paraleJal who founded the Wildlife Center of the North Coast and dedicated much of her life to helpinJ animals, especially seabirds, died Sept. 4. She was . The wildlife center an nounced that Josh Saranpaa, Fee¶s understudy for nearly eiJht years and assistant di rector for the last year and a half, would take over as di rector. “, spent the last eiJht years learninJ from her,” Saranpaa, 23, said of Fee, addinJ he thouJht of her like family. For the last ¿ ve years, Saranpaa said, he¶s been the only other licensed animal rehabilitator. Fee trained him as if he was takinJ over, he said, but the expectation was he¶d leave and Jo to colleJe. But life took a different turn, Saranpaa said, and he¶s hap py to be doinJ what he loves at the wildlife center. The center will soon an nounce a celebration of life for Fee, who is survived by a brother in Dayton. Portland, Fee took a sabbatical in . She started volunteer inJ with the owl rehabil itation pro SHARNELLE FEE Jram at the OreJon =oo, which Fee said sparked her interest in wildlife. For the next eiJht years, Fee balanced her career and volunteer work with the Audubon Society of Port land, a turtle rehabilitation proJram in Beaverton and even weekends at the Avi an 0edical Center in Lake OsweJo, where she learned surJical skills. Fee eventually became licensed by the state and federal Jovernments to re habilitate animals out of her home, and applied for non pro¿ t status to start a wild life center. After a divorce, the death of her father and hip replacement, Fee sold her house in Portland, left her Mob and made her way to Olney, where she had pur chased 05 acres. A change of life Coming to the coast After spendinJ a quar ter century as a paraleJal at Davis WriJht Tremaine in ,n a 200 interview, Fee said she moved to the North Coast to help seabirds. EO Media Group FILE PHOTO/EO MEDIA GROUP Sharnelle Fee, the director of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, shows off a sand-dollar-sized wound on the back of a white pelican chick last year. Th e wound is the result of an encounter with a bald eagle. “They¶re challenJinJ because most of them live way out in the ocean,” she said. “,f they¶re in on land, they¶re not only out of their element, but they¶re in bad shape and so it¶s dif ¿ cult to Jet them back into condition, treatinJ their wounds.” Her pet proMect at the wildlife center has Jrown to handle between 2,000 and 3,000 animals a year, mostly birds. Saranpaa said the center has more than 00 murres, a penJuinlike bird of the cooler northern oceans found all alonJ the West Coast, that have been washinJ up on beaches. The wildlife center¶s spec ulation is that the murres are havinJ a harder time ¿ ndinJ food in warm ocean temperatures. The center has more room for birds, he said, but they are askinJ people to brinJ the birds to the center, which is short on staff and volunteers. The center receives no direct Jovernment fundinJ, other than a small Jrant it applies for from Cannon Beach. ,t depends larJely on donations and volunteers, with only Saranpaa and an other parttime staffer.C