June 29, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
Forest from the trees
Conversation
focuses on
peoples’
relationship to
forests
Mariah
Acton
“Seeing the Forest for the
Trees: Stewarding Our Public
Lands,” a lecture by Mariah
Acton, at the Cannon Beach
Museum and History Center.
By Nancy McCarthy
For the Cannon Beach Gazette
FLOORING
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CANNON BEACH MUSEUM AND HISTORY CENTER
In Oregon, where the issue
of forest management is a hot
topic, Mariah Acton asks a
personal question: What does
the forest mean to you?
Acton, a former social sci-
ence researcher for the U.S.
Forest Service, recently led a
conversation about the future
of forest management with a
group at the Cannon Beach
History Center. She is study-
ing for her master’s degree in
conflict resolution at the Uni-
versity of Oregon and works
as a mediator for the state
Housing and Community Ser-
vices Department.
“I noticed no one was
talking about their own identi-
ties as people living in the for-
est, as third-generation timber
families, or as environmental-
ists or just speaking from their
own values. I just felt this was
a big part of the conversation
that was missing,” Acton said.
As part of a program spon-
sored by Oregon Humanities,
Acton has traveled throughout
the state to talk about what
public forests mean to Orego-
nians.
“Every community has a
different relationship to the
land that surrounds them,”
she said. “This is a chance
to explore those values and
perspectives, the chance to be
heard, to hear others and to
reflect.”
While most of the 15 par-
ticipants lived in Cannon
Beach, others were visiting
from surrounding communi-
ties.
When Acton asked what
forests meant to them, they
cited the forests’ importance
for recreation, sustaining
watersheds and their connec-
tion to the eco-system. Some
participants talked about the
beauty, solitude and peace
forests gave to them and the
need to protect them for future
generations.
“When I look at a forest,
I think of life,” said Jan Sie-
bert-Wahrmund.
Clatsop County Commis-
sioner Lianne Thompson,
who also was among the par-
ticipants, noted that she lived
in a forest clearing in Falcon
Cove.
“Forests mean to me a
place that I love, that I’m
devoted to,” Thompson said.
“But as a public figure, my job
is to create a moderate middle
where there’s a balance be-
tween what John Muir called
economic development and
conservation; they go hand-
in-hand.”
“In Oregon, our forests
mean a lot of different things,”
Acton said. “We have a timber
industry that is the economic
driver of our state settling;
there’s no way around that.
The economics part of it con-
tinues to fuel a lot of our com-
munities across the state.”
Forests also draw visitors,
Acton noted. “People come
here for nature, for finding
the peace, the tranquility and
the beauty of those trees when
they’re standing upright.”
Half of the 63 million acres
in Oregon is in forests, Acton
said. “We have lots of differ-
ent forests across our state, so
when we talk about different
types of forest policies, we’re
talking about lots of different
types of trees,” she added.
In eastern Oregon, conver-
sations about forest manage-
ment are different, she said.
“They have to cut down a lot
more trees to get the board
footage to fuel their schools
(economically) than over
here. It’s different environ-
mentalism, it’s different eco-
nomics.”
In addition, the type of
ownership varies from region
to region in Oregon. While
federal ownership predom-
inates on the east side, state
forests are more common on
the west side, she said. With
the variations of ownership –
city, state, federal, Bureau of
Land Management, private
holdings – come variations in
management policies.
“We can’t talk about forest
policy as a monolithic; there’s
a lot of different nuance
there,” she said.
Policies also change with
time. Acton talked about the
influence of two early conser-
vationists: John Muir, founder
of the Sierra Club, who sought
preservation of forest land,
and Gifford Pinchot, founder
of the U.S. Forest Service,
who promoted sustainable use
of the forest.
Acton asked participants
to consider where they place
themselves along the spec-
trum of conservationism and
utilitarianism.
Thompson said she kept
moving between “loving the
planet” and taking care of
“disenfranchised people who
don’t have any way of earning
a living.”
“I see people with ade-
quate and stable incomes say-
ing I want to have only park
land and we shouldn’t cut any
trees and the money should
magically come from some-
where. Tourism creates air
pollution and traffic and the
load on fresh water and waste-
water,” Thompson said.
But Betsy Ayres, of Cannon
Beach, noted that automation
is taking away timber-related
jobs. She said government’s
priority should be to conserve
natural resources.
“I personally don’t feel
like we are managing those
in perpetuity. I think we’re
still stealing from our chil-
dren’s children for a profit,”
said Ayres, who would like
to see more of the corpora-
tion-owned forests owned by
families.
At the end of the gathering,
Acton challenged the group to
continue the discussion.
“Anyone can start these
conversations,” she said. “In
this world of hyper polariza-
tion, we’re afraid to talk to
our neighbor these days. Be
willing to start these conver-
sations.”
Remembering the USS Shark
USS Shark from Page 1A
Annie Von Domitz, of the Oregon Travel
Experience, supervised the renovation of the
historic marker, in the style of the state’s his-
toric wooden beaver markers. Arch Cape resi-
dent John Piatt played a key role in working on
the text and drafts, with historical support from
Trucke and Jeff Smith, senior curator of the Co-
lumbia River Maritime Museum.
The postmortem is as
fascinating as the Shark’s
career in the waters. Long
after it ran aground, the
search for the ship’s three
carronades — small, pow-
erful cannons used to fire at
ships at near range — be-
came a local obsession.
“For decades, the can-
non played peekaboo,”
Trucke said.
One was found in 1896.
Two others were discovered
a day apart more than a cen-
tury later, in 2008, revealed
R.J. MARX
by extreme low tides and
Annie Von Domitz of the
the natural loss of beach
Oregon Travel Experience
sand due to winter storms.
at the ribbon-cutting of a
Piatt recalled: “The sand
new historic marker along
was way out and a girl and
U.S. Highway 101 in Arch
her dad were out walking
Cape.
and she said, ‘This looks
like a cannon!’ A couple of
days later someone found the
third cannon right near
there.”
The restoration of
the three carronades
became a community
project, with the assis-
tance of the Garden Club,
the Arch Cape Community
Club, Historic Markers Com-
mittee, the Cannon Beach
History Center and
Museum and the Co-
lumbia River Mari-
time Museum.
Funds were raised
and the carronades were
restored at the marine archaeology department
of Texas A&M University before returning to
the North Coast. Today, a replica stands at the
site of the historic marker. One carronade stands
at the history center and two are on exhibit at
the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
How did the Shark arrive here? Trucke pro-
vided an eloquent recounting of the ship’s cre-
ation and its ultimate demise.
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‘Manifest Destiny’
The secretary of the Navy in early 1846 sent
the vessel to the Pacific Northwest to join the
Pacific squadron. The ship’s role was to defend
U.S. interests in the Northwest and to spread the
concept of “Manifest Destiny” in the Oregon
territory when there was doubt about whether it
would be British or American land?
President James K. Polk sent the Shark to
Oregon in August 1846. The ship, 86 feet long,
was designed for speed and maneuverability to
navigate the waters of the West Indies.
The Shark’s impressive career saw it trans-
port the naturalist James J. Audubon in 1831 to
collect research specimens. The Shark was the
first U.S. ship to navigate the Strait of Magellan
in 1833 en route to Peru.
According to the “Arch Cape Chronicles,”
by David and Alma English, in the summer of
1846 Lt. Neil N. Howison received orders to
carry supplies from Honolulu in readiness to
ascend the Columbia River as far as the Willa-
mette. Their reports would assist in formulating
a decision on the location of the boundary be-
tween England and the American lands. Amer-
icans wanted the board to be 54 degrees, 40
minutes latitude, the reason for Polk’s slogan,
“54-40 or fight,” immortalized in history books.
But due to a lag in communications, crew
members were unaware that the U.S. Senate
had already ratified a treaty with Britain mak-
ing the U.S. border the 49th parallel, render-
ing the journey unnecessary. Some of the ship
deserted, but the lieutenant in command was
“impatient, naive and somewhat impetuous”
in seeking his return south. He attempted to
cross the Columbia Bar without a bar pilot.
With a sparse crew and bad weather, on Sept.
10, 1846, the Shark was pulled directly toward
breakers. While the crew survived, the ship was
destroyed.
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