December 18, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
To keep water safe, task force remains vigilant
Surfrider helps
monitor water quality
By Dani Palmer
Cannon Beach Gazette
Clean water is crucial to eco-
logical health. It’s why Jesse Jones
with the Surfrider Foundation’s
Blue Water Task Force talked
about the Ecola Creek Watershed’s
health during a Haystack Rock
Awareness Program lecture at the
Cannon Beach Library Dec. 9.
Jones has worked in many as-
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artistic. She grew up on the Ne-
halem River.
“The quality of water depends
upon who needs it to live,” she
said. “Salmon need cold water to
reproduce, so testing is done to
determine the temperature. That is
done here in Ecola. Humans need
clean water to drink and bathe, so
testing is done to determine bac-
teria levels. Plants, people and
animals need clean water to grow,
so testing is done to determine all
sorts of things.” Scientists look at
SUBMITTED PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Salmon swimming in Ecola Creek. Many streams are too warm for
salmon spawning, but Ecola Creek appears to be healthy.
factors like oxygen, algae, metals
and sediments.
Monitoring limited
The Oregon Department of En-
vironmental Quality only monitors
four sites in Clatsop County and
the Beach Action Value used to
determine whether water is safe to
swim in or ingest will be lowered
in 2017, adding more strain. Jones
said the state just doesn’t have the
money to do more — that commu-
nities need to do more work.
Jones said she thinks Timothy
Morton’s book “Ecology Without
Nature” makes a good point: hu-
mans need to focus on doing more.
But she disagreed with him on data
being a waste of time.
“If we aren’t looking in the water
to see what’s there, then we aren’t
going to know what’s in the water,
so we have to continue to do it,” she
said. “But I think we can do it a lot
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She added there should be con-
versations about how to do so and
who should do it.
Bob Lundy samples for entero-
coccus bacteria in Ecola Creek and
both the Blue Water Task Force
and Oregon Beach Monitoring
Program test at the outfalls and in
shorewater.
Lundy said water farther back in
Ecola Creek looks different from the
outfall water. Outfall water has an-
imal feces, trash deposits and more
that’s run into it. Pesticides are also a
water quality concern.
Volunteers needed
The Ecola Creek Watershed
Council does the monitoring of wa-
ter temperature. Many streams are
too warm for salmon spawning, but
Ecola Creek appears to be healthy,
Jones said. “Ecola Creek is pretty
cold, which is great,” she added.
There are some spots above 70 de-
grees, but testers aren’t sure of the
causes. They are working on cor-
relation studies. Jones said there are
steps the public can take to assist by
volunteering for the Blue Water Task
Force, and help protect the creek by
paying attention to physical charac-
teristics and buying reusable water
containers.
Surfrider needs more volunteers
to assist in water testing. The Blue
Water Task Force has four regular
volunteers and 12 total, Jones said.
Many are retirees. She said co-
ordinators like their knowledge,
but also need youth to carry on the
tasks. “I think education is a big
part of it,” she said.
Some in the audience suggested
partnering with local schools. If they
had more volunteers, Jones said,
they could do additional testing.
Some want the stormwater run-
ning into drains and rivers tested, but
it takes many resources.
‘Pretty cold’
Marijuana: ‘Once it’s here, you’re not going to get rid of it’
Pot from Page 1A
Cannon Beach is a beau-
tiful area known for being
result might differ from 2014. family and dog friendly,
“Maybe the reason the Laws said, and secondhand
vote was so high wasn’t that marijuana smoke causes
they wanted to have a dis- illness in children and pets.
pensary or a store or a crop,” She cited risks to children
%HQH¿HOG VDLG 3URSRQHQWV and studies indicating in-
“just wanted to be able to creased accident rates asso-
go to Seaside and get a joint ciated with marijuana use.
She also expressed concern
and not get arrested for it.”
Councilor George Vetter over the security of mari-
said it doesn’t “make sense juana shops.
“We need to preserve the
to go back to the voters.”
“It seems to me that image of Cannon Beach,”
would be a waste of time Laws said, adding Seaside,
and money and is kind of with two dispensaries, is a
like saying, ‘You made a short drive away.
Steve Hudgik, a retired
bad decision, now we’ll
give you a chance to correct marketing specialist and
pastor of the Cannon Beach
it,’” Vetter said.
He noted a marijuana Bible Church, said numbers
business would not survive in Colorado and other states
in Cannon Beach without indicating an uptick in tour-
ism following marijuana le-
demand.
galization were misleading.
Opposition to licensing
Hudgik questioned if
Marlene Laws, a resi- marijuana would enhance
dent, voiced her opposition “the Cannon Beach ex-
perience” and noted it is
to licensing dispensaries.
Dining on the
North Coast
important not to rush a de-
cision because “once it’s
here, you’re not going to
get rid of it.”
Support for marijuana
Sam Chapman, found-
ing partner of New Econ-
omy Consulting, said he
wants to open a marijuana
shop with family members
as employees. He said he
chose Cannon Beach be-
cause of its atmosphere.
Chapman said he wants
to address the stigma of
marijuana and believes a
dispensary could bring in
additional tourism with an
“emerging cannabis indus-
try.”
He said he is looking
at potential dispensary lo-
cations and one business
owner has already given
approval.
Now, Chapman said, it
is up to the city to make a
decision.
Resident
Jan
Sie-
bert-Wahrmund said mar-
ijuana is actually not that
different from alcohol. “I
don’t use it myself, I don’t
drink alcohol, but I think
people have the right to
do so,” Siebert-Wahrmund
added, pointing to Cannon
Beach’s voter approval of
Measure 91.
The rules
The Oregon Liquor Con-
trol Commission is in the
process of adopting rules
for recreational cannabis
use due in January.
“This is really a moving
animal,” Herdener said.
There are already lim-
itations in place. Dispen-
saries must be located
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few lots available meeting
those criteria.
Herdener said the buffer
requirement does not apply
to preschools and Bible
schools. She said staff are
seeking guidance because
it will take work to prepare
a ballot measure.
Even if the council de-
cides to go with the No-
vember 2016 vote, Herden-
er added, staff will have to
draft regulations in case
residents don’t opt out.
City Planner Mark
Barnes said it would take
four months to go through
the adoption process, so the
city would need to come to
a decision next spring.
An opt-out of marijuana
sales would prevent Can-
non Beach from receiving
state taxes on sales, he
added.
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more than 1,000 feet from
schools. Oregon residents
are allowed to grow up to
four plants for personal use
without a license and may
carry an ounce of marijua-
na on their person in pub-
lic, but may not consume
it in public places such as
hotels, the beach or on the
street, Herdener said.
Herdener said the city
could impose its own “rea-
sonable restrictions,” like
dispensary hours, distance
from parks and more in
drafting a licensing ordi-
nance.
Mayor Sam Steidel
questioned whether the
school run by the Christian
Conference Center would
be included in that 1,000-
foot buffer area around
dispensaries. If it is, he
added, there would be
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