March 6, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Listening – really listening – is the
only way to learn the message
W
“
e are the land. The stories
of our people — we’re
all about the land.”
And so, the tale of the Native
Americans who lived on the North
Coast hundreds — thousands —
of years before pioneer settlers
ever approached began.
It was a standing-room-only
crowd in the Seaside Public Li-
brary community room during
the “Listening to the Land” lec-
ture sponsored by the North Coast
Land Conservancy.
For two hours we listened to
Dick Basch, the vice chairman of
the Clatsop-Nehalem tribes, and
his wife, Roberta, who calls her-
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tions.
Through slides showing old
photographs, Dick introduced us
to his great-grandfather, Joe Dun-
can, “who lived when the land
was gone” and took up logging to
“keep the family alive.”
There were other slides, of
another tribal member, Simon,
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then as a young man, who left the
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school. As a young lawyer, Simon
returned home and saw how the
settlers had occupied the land of
his ancestors.
The settlers, Dick said, saw that
the land “provided everything peo-
ple needed.”
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suits against the federal govern-
ment for return of the land,” Dick
said, raising his chin and smiling
ever so slightly.
The slides showed his grandfa-
ther clam digging and, later, with
family at Indian Beach.
For many, many years Indian
children were raised on the beach,
at Arch Cape or Hug Point, Dick
said.
“Indian Beach was one of the
last holdouts,” he said of the area
now part of Ecola State Park. “It
was one of the last places we had
people living in a village.”
Another slide showed Dick
as a child, at what is now called
NeCus’ Park, which once was the
former playground of Cannon
Beach Elementary School. The
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quicentennial celebration of Lewis
and Clark’s arrival on this land.
Even as he described the slide
and how he had come dressed for
his Indian role, Dick couldn’t mask
the excitement he still felt about
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gathered with family and friends
on land where a Clatsop village
once stood.
“We lost a lot of our culture,”
he said. “We sort of pushed it
down because it wasn’t accepted.”
Hard to understand
The loss of culture may have
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Clatsop Chief Tostow signed a
treaty with the federal govern-
ment; he was clearly not happy
about it.
When asked why he was days
late arriving to sign the document,
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cials, “We were not so very anx-
ious to sell our homes and be driv-
en away like so many birds as we
have heard was to be done as soon
as we sold our lands.”
Although the treaty reassured
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rights would be protected on Nea-
coxie Creek and that they would
be free to walk along the beach,
later they found that newly con-
structed fences barred them from
the land they had once occupied
and had fed them.
“It’s hard to understand how
it really happened,” Dick told us.
“How it happened here.”
But with the Clatsop-Nehalem
tribe’s recent participation in the
Canoe Project, the tribe’s smol-
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noe Project, which required the
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enough to build a 36-foot-long ca-
noe, then to carve it, brought the
Impressions
Left: Richard and
Roberta Basch of
the Clatsop-Ne-
halem Confeder-
ated Tribes spoke
at the Listening to
the Land talk re-
cently in Seaside.
B Y
NANCY
McCARTHY
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Below: Cannon
Beach Public
Works employees
Kirk Anderson,
left, and Paul
Phillips, right
foreground, place
the NeCus’ Park
sign atop its base
near Fir Street in
January.
‘There’s a dance of
energy and color in
every single plant’
Roberta Basch, Native American,
on how they relate to the land
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Northwest tribes together as they
embarked on canoe trips along the
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and attend celebrations.
From those ongoing explo-
rations, Roberta Basch said, the
tribes are learning their songs and
sharing stories. They trade infor-
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ers that can be applied as medicine
or eaten for nourishment.
And, they continue to listen to
the land.
Neahkahnie Mountain, Roberta
said, is “one of the most powerful
places on Earth” and remains a sa-
cred place. Saddle Mountain also
is revered by the Clatsops.
“People don’t understand what
makes us different, why we are
connected to the earth,” Roberta
said.
“We’re sent out to listen,” she
added. “When we’re listening to
the land, we’re forming a relation-
ship with the land. … There’s a
dance of energy and color in every
single plant.”
This relationship — a way of
“connecting with your soul” —
she calls “Indian science.” It’s
what “European science,” which
involves experimentation, mea-
surement, hypotheses and proofs,
is missing.
“Imagine how powerful it
would be if they were matched to-
gether,” Roberta Basch said.
Keep listening
As I left the lecture, I wondered
why so many people had turned
out on a Wednesday night to lis-
ten to Dick and Roberta, who are
already well known on the North
Coast. Perhaps it was curiosity.
Maybe it was a genuine desire to
learn more about the Indians’ his-
tory about the land we all share.
But I hope, in any case, we all
listened closely. And we keep lis-
tening.
That’s the only way healing
will begin.
Nancy McCarthy covers South
Clatsop County as a reporter for
The Daily Astorian. She also is
the editor of the Seaside Signal
and the Cannon Beach Gazette.
Side Rail JON RAHL
Tourism grants an opportunity to expand awareness
Long before my time
in Oregon and association
with the Seaside Visitors
Bureau, some very wise
people made the decision
to create a program that
invites businesses, non-
profits and organizations
to help impact travel and
tourism in Seaside.
The visitors bureau’s
budget funds an annual
advertising campaign to
help generate ongoing
awareness and visibility
for the area, but an annu-
al earmark (also known
as Seaside’s tourism
grant program) for events
and development is also
a critical piece towards
long-term success for
Seaside.
Events have been a sta-
ple in our community for
years. The summer events
are synonymous with
Seaside, and you know
them well. The Fourth of
July celebration show-
cases one of the biggest
fireworks shows in the
Pacific Northwest. Sea-
side Beach Volleyball and
Hood to Coast anchor Au-
gust and bring thousands
of people to town.
Most locals are also
well aware of Seaside’s
two car shows (Mus-
cle and Chrome in June,
Wheels and Waves in
September) that usher in
summer while also bid-
ding it adieu right after
the kids go back to school.
Dig a little deeper and
you find events and pro-
grams that help pepper
the fall and winter months
with visitors during what
has traditionally been
Seaside’s “slow” months.
The Seaside Jazz Festi-
the case a couple of weeks
ago.
What’s unique about
the jazz festival is that it’s
also been a longtime re-
cipient of Seaside’s tour-
ism grant program. The
annual grant application
process kicked off on Feb.
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events, infrastructure and
programming that help
drive additional aware-
ness and visitation to the
coast. Priority is given to
JON RAHL
projects that happen be-
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val fits this category well. EXWWKHNH\LQJUHGLHQW
Occupying a late February is development that brings
ZHHNHQGIRUPRUHWKDQ more overnight visitors to
years, it drives hundreds our community.
of music enthusiasts into
Past tourism grant funds
Seaside hotels for a long helped develop Seaside
weekend when we could Naturally. The Seaside
see a brief skiff of snow, Chamber of Commerce
or we could see tempera- started that program, built
WXUHVLQWKHV²DVZDV D ZHEVLWH DQG D WHUUL¿F
foundation. A year ago, the
visitors bureau took over
management of the web-
site and social media pres-
ence, but it likely wouldn’t
have started without that
kick-start from the grant
program.
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year events, Coast-ucopia
(a fall harvest festival) and
a business entrepreneurial
retreat run by Seaside Yoga,
tried their hand at bring-
ing something different to
Seaside. Both experienced
their own versions of suc-
cess, and the Tourism Ad-
visory Committee (a City
Council-appointed group
that meets monthly to dis-
cuss all visitors bureau ac-
tivities) also saw enough
promise in both events that
there is reason for optimism
if each were to take a stab at
a second year.
The funds are meant
to be seed money to get
things going, with the
hope that it’s eventually
a self-sustaining event.
Some work out, some do
not, but I love this program
because it creates oppor-
tunity and exploration,
which might spur another
idea or program down the
road. What’s your idea
for an event? A complete
grant packet is available at
SeasideOR.com/grant, or
you can drop me an email
to request one.
Jon Rahl is the di-
rector of tourism for the
Seaside Visitors Bureau
and assistant general
manager of the Seaside
Civic and Convention
Center. For questions or
column suggestions, he
can be reached at jon@
seasideor.com.
Planning commission mulls medical marijuana
Pot from Page 1A
holders in Clatsop County,
she said, and giving them ac-
cess to their medicine will im-
prove their quality of life.
The speakers also shared
with the commission how
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cal marijuana card, and most
people won’t put in the time,
effort or money to get a card
for fraudulent purposes, they
said.
“Some of your best friends
are people who use medical
marijuana, and a doctor sent
them there,” Geiger said.
Speaking from personal
experience, Nelson told the
commission there have been
no problems in relation to
Steve Forrester
EDITOR
Nancy McCarthy
REPORTER
considers allowing medical
marijuana dispensaries.
“At this point, we’re will-
ing to do whatever we have to
do to work with this commis-
sion, to work with the coun-
cil,” Geiger said.
ANGELA
State restrictions already
FAIRLESS
exist that prevent medical
marijuana dispensaries from
city,” he said.
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Rather than throwing “the school and another dispensa-
baby out with the bath water,” ry. Taking those restrictions
Nelson said, the city should into consideration, as well as
articulate what its goal is with the likelihood that dispensa-
the restrictions and what it is ries would go in commercial
trying to prevent in terms of zones, the commissioners
SXEOLF VDIHW\ SDUNLQJ WUDI¿F asked Cupples to create a vi-
or other issues.
sual representation of poten-
The speakers offered to tial locations or areas where
continue sharing information dispensaries could go. From
and other resources as the city there, they can consider if any
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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John D. Bruijn
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Samantha McLaren
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Claire Lovell
John Rahl
Darren Gooch
Esther Moberg
Katherine Lacaze
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which ones seem appropriate.
Using those guidelines,
Cupples said, three dispensa-
ries probably is the maximum
for Seaside.
Also at the meeting, the
commission voted unani-
mously to approve a variance
for the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District to
expand the permitted sales
associated with the Seaside
Farmers Market. The district
asked that vendors be allowed
to sell prepared food cooked
on site, as well as arts and
craft items. The farmers mar-
ket takes place on the Seaside
American Legion property,
which is zoned medium-den-
sity residential.
Laura Kaim
Wendy Richardson
Seaside Signal
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