May 19, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A Oregon’s public lands could face the brunt of solar eclipse visitors Celebrating 50 years of public beaches As many as a million visitors are expected ‘Unique opportunity’ Beach from Page 1A Major players in the tour- ism industry, such as soon-to- be chairman of Travel Oregon Ryan Snyder and Oregon Coast Visitors Association Executive Director Marcus Hinz, also came to celebrate the bill that supports Oregon’s tourism industry. “This is important because the ethos of this bill is built into our public coast brand,” Hinz said. “These public beaches present a unique op- portunity. We have to balance economic development and responsibility, and we are tak- ing the long view approach to doing that (in Oregon).” Other festivities of the day included a beach bike demo, a sandcastle-building demon- stration and a performance from The Weather Machine, a band who recorded songs in- spired by travels up the entire Oregon Coast. “This is a celebration about saving the beach,” Cham- ber of Commerce Executive Director and key organizer Court Carrier said. “What if the beach would have been privatized? Can you imagine not being able to walk along the beach? This bill is proba- bly the reason why this visitor economy exists on the coast.” By Amanda Peacher Oregon Public Broadcasting Smith Rock State Park naturalist Dave Vick peered through his spotting scope perched on a red rock cliff. He pointed the scope toward a tall ponderosa pine, spotting a downy mass in the middle of a 6-foot-wide nest. Inside was a 2-week-old bald eagle, or eaglet, named Solo because he was the only hatchling in this year’s brood. The floppy little bird was guarded by a stately adult bald eagle — one of the two in a nesting pair that lives here year-round. Solo then stared expectantly at the parent bird, opening his beak slightly. It was a typical quiet, spring day for these raptors and the many other species in the park. But come August, Solo and the other park wildlife will experi- ence a rare celestial event — a total solar eclipse that will trav- el across the entire midsection of Oregon. For two minutes, the park will go dark. Noctur- nal creatures will stir, daytime animals will fall asleep, and the temperature will drop dra- matically and suddenly. Thousands of human vis- itors are expected to visit the state park, and many other wild places within the eclipse’s path, to experience the rare event. And land managers are ex- pecting still more people who want to experience the eclipse in a memorable, wild setting to flock to rivers, wilderness ar- eas, mountain peaks and lakes. Potential problems All those people amount to a huge amount of planning for public lands agencies — and potential problems. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS A total solar eclipse over Oregon happens on Aug. 21. All reservable campsites at Smith Rock are booked for the eclipse. The same goes for pretty much every other state park, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management campsite, as well as cabins, vacation rentals and motels within the path of totality. With all bookable lodging taken, eclipse watchers are expected to spill over onto public lands to see the event. Estimates of as many as 1 million visitors means land managers are working hard to protect the many sensitive, wild places within the 70-mile belt of the eclipse. That includes educating visitors on how to protect wildlife. In addition to bald eagles and other raptors at Smith Rock, there are river otters, nesting golden eagles, mule deer, snakes and more. Huge crowds of human visi- tors can interrupt critters that are hunting, sleeping or car- ing for their young. “The biggest issue is just stress for the wildlife,” Vick said. Land managers are con- cerned about potential dam- age to places like the John Day Fossil Beds, where one misstep can destroy irreplace- able fossils, and pristine spots within the Mount Jefferson Wilderness Area that could be overrun with illegal fires, trash and human waste. Cash-strapped Budget-strapped agencies like the Forest Service already face challenges with hiring an adequate number of wilderness rangers and law enforcement officers. Smith Rock State Park has only five full-time staffers plus a few volunteers. Rangers from other parks will be on site for the eclipse, but that’s still just a handful of employees for thousands of visitors. That equation will be about the same at Forest Ser- vice and BLM campgrounds, trails and dirt roads. And with the eclipse happening during one of the hottest months of the year, there’s one topic that comes up at every eclipse planning meeting: wildfire. “The idea of evacuating all those people on a normal day in a fire is very frightening,” Barnum said. “To think about it happening when there’s double or triple volume of people in the park would be really, really terrifying.” To limit crowding, officials will close the road into the park once it’s full. Latecomers will have to walk ½ mile or more to reach the entrance. But despite all the extra work and necessary precau- tions that go into planning for a day like this, Barnum is ex- cited to experience the eclipse in the place where she works. “Smith Rock is definitely a very special place,” Barnum said. “If we can preserve it and give people an amazing expe- rience watching the eclipse when they come out here, that’s pretty cool. It makes me feel good about what we do.” Marty Giguiere Owner/Broker c: 503.440.7676 o: 503.43t6.1777 e: mr007@pacifier.com Egrane Brown Susan Tone Broker c: 503.440.1648 e: egranebrown@gmail.com Broker c: 503.354.4072 e: suanetone@nehalemtel.net Maryann Sinkler Andrea Mace Geri Lane Broker c. 503.440.9280 e: maryanns@remax.net Broker c. 503-440-4024 e: Andrea.k.mace@remax.net Broker c: 503.480.9846 e: gerilane@remax.net Hilary Herman Shelley Parker Broker c: 503-791-4718 e: HilaryHerman@hotmail.com Broker c: 503-739-1977 e: Shelley.Parker@mail.com NOW WITH 2 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU! 219 N. Hemlock in Downtown Cannon Beach 503.436.1777 430 Laneda in Downtown Manzanita 503.368.1777 /REMAXCoastalAdvantage Member of 2 MLS Systems Each office is independently owned & operated 167 AMBER All brokers listed are licensed in the State of Oregon 159 W NEBESNA 8820 PELICAN ARCH CAPE OCEAN FRONT LI NE ST W IN G LI NE ST W IN G 780 OAK ST McCall remembers the day his dad flew to Cannon Beach, but in the way most people probably did. “I saw it on TV,” McCall laughed. “That was business. We were his family. I didn’t realize the significance at the time of what he did — he was just my dad.” But the event nevertheless had an impact on him. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1967, where he started his 50-year career championing environ- mental protection in the mili- tary. In 2003, he moved to the U.S. Army as a consultant to develop the first major federal agency commitment to sus- tainability. He joined in a time where environmentalists and those in the military clashed about the role of pollution in mili- tary exercises. Today he still works in this field as a program manager for the Institute for Renew- able Natural Resources at Texas A&M University. “(My father) influenced me a lot. He taught me you can bring these parties together,” he said. “When people are an- gry, that’s when you reach out to bring them together.” As for speaking in the in- clement weather? Just anoth- er testament to Oregonian’s commitment to the beach, he said. “It wouldn’t have been the same any other way.” Mayor Sam Steidel was in the third grade when Gov. Mc- Call visited Cannon Beach. “I remember seeing the helicopter,” Steidel said. “I know that the governor was there, and I remember some men in some suits, but mostly I remember the helicopter.” While some of the details of that day were fuzzy, a Cannon Beach where people couldn’t walk along the dry sand is simply one Steidel said he can’t imagine. “The beach — it’s in our name,” he said. Owner/Principal Broker c: 503.440.3202 f: 877.812.1126 e: alainagiguiere@mac.com 503.436.1777 • CoastalAdvantage.com Committed to the cause Beach memories Alaina Giguiere Coastal Advantage COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP The Beach Bill keeps Ore- gon’s beaches open to every- one. 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