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
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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
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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
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