October 20, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Heck Gnaw!
Zoning change pushes
Seaside campus ahead
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
Porcupines
spotted in
Clatstop
County
By Katie Frankowicz and
Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
naw
C latsop
County tim-
ber company
saw porcu-
pines for the
fi rst time in
forestland
around the Ecola Creek
w atershed near Cannon
Beach this summer.
Squashed, dead porcu-
pines are a common sight on
the side of highways on Wash-
ington state’s Long Beach
Peninsula, and hikers occa-
sionally spot live ones lum-
bering down trails and logging
roads around Willapa Bay.
But they are rare in Clat-
sop County — even though
the same mixed hardwood
and coniferous forest habi-
tat the large, stumpy-legged,
quill-covered rodents prefer
exists here . The Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park
between Astoria and Warren-
ton keeps a list of animals
spotted in its dense, forested
land. Porcupines aren’t on it.
But contractors for Green-
Wood Resources investigating
porcupine-related damage to
young stands around the Eco-
la Creek w atershed have now
trapped 17 porcupines in a
1,500-acre area .
These sightings are the fi rst
offi cial reports of porcupines
in Clatsop County received
by the local Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife o f-
fi ce, said Michelle Dennehy, a
spokeswoman for the depart-
ment.
But she doubts the porcu-
pines seen on GreenWood’s
land are new to the area. Like-
ly, they’ve been here all along,
and the sightings could be
a sign that the population is
growing.
‘A balance’
Depending on where they
are, what they’re doing and
how many of them are around,
porcupines are either an ex-
citing wildlife sighting or a
threat capable of damaging
acres of young, valuable trees.
For GreenWood Resourc-
es, a timber company that
prides itself on a commitment
to responsible stewardship
and has been praised for its
collaboration with local land
conservation groups, it’s a lit-
tle bit of both.
“We want to embrace the
critters. T his is their home,”
said Kathryn Olson, an area
forester with GreenWood Re-
sources based in Gearhart.
“But it’s a balance.”
It is not unheard of for tim-
ber companies to trap and kill
porcupines, sources in Wash-
ington state and Oregon say.
Georg Ziegltrum, animal
damage control supervisor
with the Washington Forest
Protection Association, says
identifying markers such as
bark being stripped away and
eaten and distinctive tooth
marks make it clear when por-
cupines are to blame for tree
damage. He said they can take
a heavy toll on industrial tim-
berland.
Porcupines can weigh up
to 40 pounds, but despite their
bulk they will climb high in
young trees, gnawing around
the trunks — “girdling” them
— eating the bark. They may
expose roots and clip branches
in their foraging, making the
trees more susceptible to dis-
ease and decay.
A draft management plan
for the Elliott State Forest
in Coos and Douglas coun-
ties named porcupines on a
short list of wildlife species
— including beaver, elk and
black bear — that were caus-
ing damage in the forest. The
damage, the plan’s authors
note , was “sporadic and oc-
curs in varying severity as to
the number of trees damaged.”
Growing population
Porcupine populations are
believed to be robust in Or-
egon. The rodents are found
mostly east of the Cascade
Range, but they have become
more common in w estern Or-
egon, as well, Dennehy said.
On public land, they are
considered unprotected mam-
mals; people who want to trap
or hunt them have to apply for
a furtaker license through the
state. The season is open the
entire year and the state does
not track harvests. In general,
there tends to be very little
public interest in hunting por-
cupines, Dennehy said.
On private lands, the state
considers them predatory ani-
mals for the damage they do to
tree saplings and they can be
trapped without permits.
“The porcupine range has
been expanding slowly for the
last 30 years or so,” said Den-
nehy. “ODFW saw much the
same reaction in Tillamook
County 25 years ago when the
‘fi rst one’ showed up as roadkill
and people were fl abbergasted.”
Not anymore.
“They’re fairly common
in Tillamook now, though
the county isn’t overrun with
them.”
Olson grew up in Clatsop
County and has seen a few por-
cupines during her time here.
She has also seen evidence of
porcupine-related damage in
the woods she helps manage
for GreenWood, but she and
other foresters weren’t wor-
ried about a few girdled trees
here and there.
This summer, though,
they saw several acres where
numerous 10- to 20-year-
old trees had been hit. Most
of these trees will likely die
or bush out, Olson said, los-
ing their value. In her seven
years with the timber com-
pany, she has never seen the
level of damage they are see-
ing now.
Next year, GreenWood
expects to initiate an annu-
al program to monitor where
porcupine activity is taking
place and if it is occurring
in stands that are particular-
ly vulnerable. The company
will work with contractors to
establish acceptable and un-
acceptable levels of damage
that will guide when, if neces-
sary, more animals need to be
trapped and killed.
Before shovels can
break ground for a new
high school campus, Sea-
side needed to rezone two
parcels — one 40 acres and
the second 49 acres.
With the third reading
of two ordinances Monday,
Oct. 9, the Seaside City
Council opened the door for
development of the campus,
designed to replace old and
vulnerable buildings in the
Cascadia Subduction Zone.
“It’s one more step in
the process of moving for-
ward,” Seaside School Dis-
trict Superintendent Sheila
Roley said after the coun-
cil meeting. “The meeting
tonight was really about
clarifi cation of wording
and setting up clearly stat-
ed ordinances that refl ect
the urban growth boundary
change.”
The property, located
at 2000 Spruce Drive, in-
cludes the residential por-
tion of the existing Seaside
Heights Elementary School
site outside the wetlands
zone.
The new campus, ap-
proved by a $99.7 million
bond vote in November,
will be built on 89 acres,
49 of that designated as
county forest and the other
40 zoned residential. Both
these designations will be
changed to institutional
campus as a result of the
City Council approval,
clearing the way for the
campus, with a total project
budget of almost $113 mil-
lion.
In making their decision,
city councilors relied on tes-
timony and input from the
school district, the compre-
hensive plan, and P lanning
C ommission decisions.
Late changes and up-
dates to the ordinance
contained revised tax lot
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numbers and other minor
changes, consultant Greg
Winterowd of Winterbrook
Planning said.
“What the new ordi-
nance does is make sure we
are talking about the right
properties,”
Winterowd
said.
Planning Director Kev-
in Cupples delivered re-
vised fi ndings, along with
a response sheet directed to
public concerns.
Findings determine the
two ordinances comply
with state planning goals as
well as city and county re-
view standards.
During a public com-
ment period, John Dun-
zer, a resident, presented a
summary of an appeal he
planned to submit to the
state Land Use Board of
Appeals.
In previous meetings,
Dunzer said the city could
fi nd alternate sites within
the urban growth boundary
that did not require building
a new campus.
Mayor Jay Barber and
councilors Tita Montero,
Dana Phillips and Steve
Wright voted for the rezon-
ing and comprehensive plan
change. Randy Frank, Tom
Horning and Seth Morrisey
were absent.
Architects Dull Olson
Weekes anticipate the de-
sign phase to reach next
June, when construction
could begin. The campus is
slated for opening in the fall
of 2020.
“We’re still in the de-
sign-development
phase
and that’s a long, complex
process,” Roley said. “The
City Council has been
very helpful in guiding us
through this process prop-
erly.”
Approval is subject to
the Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners and takes
effect upon the board’s ap-
proval.
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