April 1, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
How to See a Rain Forest
District denies
Photographer shares how to think
about nature with the eyes of a child CBA approval
scienti¿cally and “then how we feel about
it all.”
“What we look with is everything,”
Maine said, adding a warning against
being trapped in language and de¿nition.
“A more appropriate natural history view
is really there aren’t boundaries.”
By Katherine Lacaze
For Seaside Signal
“It’s not what you look at it, it’s what
you see.” That was the message local na-
ture photographer and educator Neal Maine
shared with listeners during his discussion
on “How to See a Rain Forest” at the Sea-
side Public Library March 16.
Maine’s presentation was the third in-
stallment of the North Coast Land Conser-
vancy and Necanicum Watershed Coun-
cil’s seventh annual “Listening to the Land
Series,” incorporating a central theme of
water.
Over the past few decades, Maine said,
he has made it his mission to encourage the
public to re-establish a connectivity to the
natural world, and experience it through a
process of observing, seeing as if for the
¿rst time and continually seeking an elu-
sive horizon of understanding.
Get out there and see’
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
‘The wonder of it all’
Naturalist and photographer Neal
Maine, of PacificLight Images, speaks
to a full house at Seaside Public Library
about “How To See a Rainforest” during
the third installment of the North Coast
Land Conservancy and Necanicum
Watershed Council’s seventh annual
Listening to the Land speaker series.
While a biology teacher at Seaside High
School, Maine had his students dissect
frogs. At the end of the process, he instruct-
ed them to put the frogs’ still beating hearts
into a saline solution, several per petri dish.
The hearts continue beating even when re-
moved from the amphibians, but an even
more fascinating phenomenon is they begin
to beat together after four or ¿ve minutes.
At that point, Maine said, his classroom
“would go stone-cold silent” at “the wonder
of it all and how nature comes together.”
He encouraged his students to relish that
sense of awe at the often inexplicable nat-
ural world.
“Really there isn’t a great explanation
for why all those hearts start beating to-
gether, but they do,” Maine said. “That’s
our task tonight, to ask, ‘why are the hearts
beating?’”
Maine took the audience on a visual
journey, using several pieces of his nature
photography to illustrate the points he
made. The discussion focused on temper-
ate coniferous rain forests, one of the eco-
systems found abundantly in the region, in
addition to other ecological systems such
as coastal wetlands, estuaries and systems
near the shore like the surf zone and dunes.
Finding a consistent de¿nition for “for-
est” is challenging, but Maine said it is not
important when talking about the art of
observation. The de¿nition can be subjec-
tive since people individually look at and
experience nature.
That may seem antithetical to scien-
ti¿c discipline, but the art of natural his-
tory, Maine said, allows for emotional
reaction: it combines what people know
What are some methods to practice
an intentional focused attentiveness that
allows one to holistically experience the
coniferous forest, from trees with indi-
vidual characteristics and features, to the
wildlife, lichens, bugs, fungi and micro-
organisms in the soil and everything else
that drives life?
“What happens when you put your nat-
ural history hat on is that you end up ask-
ing nature a lot of questions, rather than
getting answers,” Maine said.
For instance, how does one look at
something like water running downstream
and consider it as an integral part of en-
tire working water cycle that gives it rel-
evance?
How can a little seed carry the infor-
mation necessary to create a 350-foot-tall,
6-foot-wide spruce tree?
Why does a beaver pass up a dozen
other trees before choosing one to fell?
“The excitement is just almost being
befuddled by it all — that is, you’re re-
ceiving so much information you’re pro-
cessing that you kind of say, ‘Wow, I’m
tired. It’s hard work walking in that for-
est,’” Maine said.
The bottom line, he said, “is just get
out there and see.”
During the next Listening to the Land
program, botanist Kathleen Sayce will be
discussing “Into the Fens: Exploring the
Clatsop Plains Wetland.” The program is
6 p.m. April 20 at the Seaside library.
Annual egg hunt ‘was really fun’
Egg Hunt from Page 1A
and used the hoods for carry-
ing eggs.
Jocelyn Fi¿eld, of Hills-
boro, who participated with
the 9-to-10-year-old age
group, said her strategy going
into the hunt was “looking for
huge clusters.” With mu She
ended up with 13 eggs.
She was visiting Seaside
with her family, including her
brothers, 9-year-olds Chris-
tian Fi¿eld and Skylar Rich-
ard, and her sisters, 6-year-
old Cassidy Fi¿eld and infant
Tobp Fi¿eld.
While the individual hunts
for the ¿ve different age
groups — 0-to-2-year-olds,
3-to-4-year-olds, 5-to-6-year-
olds, 7-to-8-year-olds and
9-to-10-year-olds — each
went really quick, according
to the children, they enjoyed
participating.
Cassidy Fi¿eld said she
found it challenging using
only her arms to carry multi-
ple plastic eggs, but overall,
the event “was really fun.”
The free community egg
hunt, hosted each year by the
Sunset Empire Park & Rec-
reation District, is a staple in
the Seaside community. This
year, the recreation district
partnered with the Oregon
College Savings Plan, Lum’s
Auto Center and the Seaside
American Legion for the
event.
More than 6,000 brightly
colored eggs, ¿lled with can-
dy and other tiny items, were
scattered across different hunt
areas at Broadway Field and
Broadway Park. The youngest
age group could use parental
help and baskets or bags. The
3- and 4-year-olds also could
use a carrying device, but no
help. The older children were
on their own.
An egg holding a golden
ticket was hidden in each hunt
area, and the winner received
a special Easter basket.
The egg hunt was well at-
tended by hundreds of chil-
dren, both from the local area
and those visiting from out
of town. As in years past, the
Easter Bunny was on hand to
help preside over the festivi-
ties and take photos with the
kids.
Across the street from the
egg hunt, the Seaside Ameri-
can Legion hosted a pancake
brunch at its facility. In the af-
ternoon, the recreation district
put on the Aquatic Treasure
Dive — an annual accom-
paniment to the egg hunt for
children ages 7 to 17 — at
Sunset Pool.
Osprey from Page 1A
yet been sighted. Although
they go their separate ways
after mating season, they re-
join each other in the spring.
Ospreys mate for life.
A joint fundraising effort
by the city, the Necanicum
Watershed Council and local
donors raised enough money
to buy and install a camera
over the nest in 2013. The
webcam proved popular, as
observers watched osprey
hatchlings emerge from eggs,
Àedge and Ày away. The
pole is already being missed,
Maine said.
“There’s a large contingent
of people who are really anx-
ious about it,” he added. “We
de¿nitely have to replace it.”
Melyssa Graeper, coor-
dinator of the Necanicum
Watershed Council, said the
goal is to install a new pole in
April.
“We have had a breeding
pair there since we installed
the pole,” Graeper said. “The
birds will come back and see
that the nest is gone, but that
is not unusual.”
Conditions unmet
The conditions, which
were to be met by this month,
were intended to ensure that
the academy would be “¿-
nancially, structurally and ac-
ademically ready” to open in
the fall.
Hull had asked the dis-
trict for a time extension or
to “simply remove” the three
requirements.
The district refused an ex-
tension or to modify or elimi-
nate the conditions.
One condition required
the school have “all the mon-
ey they need for the 2016-17
school year” in the bank, as
well as a 10-percent contin-
gency, amounting to a little
more than $450,000.
The
academy
had
$145,798 by March 1, falling
more than $300,000 short.
Although the district
would have helped Cannon
Beach Academy with opera-
tional costs, the charter school
needed upfront funds because
the district relies on Clatsop
County property tax pay-
ments, most of which come
in November, Dougherty and
Roley wrote.
The charter school also
fell short on enrollment. The
district required a minimum
of 22 enrolled students in both
kindergarten and ¿rst-grade
classes.
Sixteen ¿rst-graders were
enrolled as of March 1.
The academy did not
provide information on how
many prospective kindergar-
ten students were planning to
attend.
Dougherty and Roley said
without enough students, the
district would be unable to
make necessary adjustments
in programs, class size and
staf¿ng.
Cannon Beach Academy
met the condition of providing
a Common Core instructional
plan. However, it lacked a
state-approved English lan-
guage learners program, the
letter read. The program the
school proposed to use was
outdated. All charter schools
are required to use programs
approved by the state.
The vision
Cannon Beach Elementa-
ry closed in 2013 for ¿nan-
EO MEDIA GROUP/FILE PHOTO
Ryan Hull, president of the
Cannon Beach Academy’s
board of directors, speaks
at a Seaside School District
meeting in August.
cial reasons and fears for
student safety. The build-
ing, now shuttered, lies
in the tsunami inundation
zone.
In 2013, community
residents sought to bring
a charter school to Can-
non Beach, with the goal
of hosting kindergarteners
through ¿fth-graders.
The school planned to
open in fall at a tempo-
rary location at 171 Sunset
Blvd., in a vacated space
that once housed the Can-
non Beach Athletic Club.
Last week, the Can-
non Beach Design Review
Board approved the acade-
my’s application for “major
modi¿cations” to the exist-
ing building, to convert the
space into a charter school.
The school seeks to
eventually settle into a per-
manent site south of town
and east of U.S. Highway
101.
The district has denied
the academy’s proposal
several times, citing lack
of an adequate location and
not enough startup funds.
In October, the Seaside
School District board of
directors unanimously ap-
proved a three-year contract
with Cannon Beach Acad-
emy. Under the district’s
conditions, the charter
school would serve at least
44 kindergarten and ¿rst-
grade students its ¿rst year.
More grades could be added
over time.
In October, Hull said
none of the conditions were
unreasonable.
“I think we can achieve
every condition imposed,”
he said at the time.
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Kylee Turner, 9, of Oregon City, makes a mad dash to collect
eggs during Seaside’s annual Community Egg Hunt, held
March 26 at Broadway Field.
Birds lose nest to storm
The ¿ne feathered fowl
most likely will rebuild the
nest, she said. But another
fundraising effort will be
needed to purchase and in-
stall a better camera.
“We’re trying to ¿gure
out how much it will cost
us and who wants to be in-
volved,” Graeper said. The
Seaside Visitors Bureau,
Seaside School District and
the Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District may be
asked to participate, she add-
ed.
Costs could range from
$3,000 to $13,000, Graeper
said. Adding to the expense
could be adding a hard-wired
connection from the camera
to the computer. This will
provide more ability to focus
and turn the camera, which
proved to be challenges with
the former wireless connec-
tion.
Funds from a rafÀe during
the watershed’s 10th annual
Bird Day, April 2, from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the
Bob Chisholm Community
Center will go toward the
osprey project, Graeper said.
Academy from Page 1A
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The East Hills site, among those discussed by city officials
for future growth in Seaside.
UGB talks tabled
UGB from Page 1A
NEAL MAINE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
This pole snapped in a storm, causing the destruction of the
osprey nest.
is zoned and annexed into
the city when landowners
outside the boundary choose.
The consequences of us-
ing a 14- versus 20-year ur-
ban growth boundary expan-
sion time line would vary,
said Oregon Department of
Land Conservation and De-
velopment Rural Policy An-
alyst Sadie Carney.
“The 14-year ‘simpli-
¿ed’ process is intended to
be much easier for cities to
employ and less likely to be
appealed,” Carney said.
New urban growth
boundary rules went into ef-
fect in January, authorizing
small cities under 10,000 to
use a simpli¿ed evaluation.
The Seaside Planning
Commission made its de-
cision to table future urban
growth boundary discus-
sions March 1 as members
prepared to consider expan-
sion areas south and east of
the city limits with 200 acres
of land for development.
This had been the amount
of land needed as suggested
in a ¿nal report prepared by
the consultant HLB Otak and
delivered to the city in Feb-
ruary. The report considered
a 20-year urban projection.
The analysis showed the
growth boundary would re-
quire about 197 additional
acres to satisfy the city’s
projected population.
Using a 14-year span,
the amount of land required
would be scaled back nearly
30 percent, to 137.5 acres,
to satisfy the city’s project-
ed population, according to
Otak.
“The Planning Commis-
sion was interested in using
a kind of throttled back pop-
ulation ¿gure rather than us-
ing the full 20-year that was
part of their original projec-
tion,” Cupples said.
Commissioners
were
concerned they were taking
“a big bite of the land,” Cup-
ples said.“One of our plan-
ning commissioners said,
‘I’d feel more comfortable
looking at an estimated 14
rather than 20.”