A6 • Friday, July 12, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Gearhart adopts tsunami hazard overlay zone
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
While legislators in
Salem reversed course on
tsunami hazard planning,
the city of Gearhart became
the fi rst city in Clatsop
County and one of six along
the Oregon Coast to adopt a
tsunami resiliency plan.
“It will ensure that safety
and emergency buildings
are not built in a tsunami
hazard overlay zone,” Plan-
ner Carole Connell said
after the Wednesday, July
3, Gearhart City Council
meeting.
The city’s decision
comes days after state leg-
islators overturned a 1995
prohibition on constructing
new public facilities within
the tsunami zone.
The law, known as HB
3309, goes into effect,
municipalities will be free
to build schools, hospitals, policies related to reducing which could prohibit hospi- building height limitations
prisons, other high-occu- development risk in high tals, fi re and police stations because of its tsunami-re-
pancy buildings, rehouses, tsunami risk areas.
and other structures from silient design,” Depart-
and police stations in areas
The plan calls for haz- being built in the zone.
ment of Land Conservation
that will be destroyed when ard mitigation planning,
Exceptions could come and Development’s Coastal
the tsunami strikes.
Shores Specialist
Using
maps
Meg Reed said in
developed by the
February.
‘IT WILL ENSURE THAT SAFETY AND
Department
of
G e a r h a r t
EMERGENCY BUILDINGS ARE NOT BUILT IN
Geology and Min-
received $14,000
eral
Industries,
the state
A TSUNAMI HAZARD OVERLAY ZONE.… THE from
Gearhart councilors
to help the city
approved an over-
STATE REPEALED THIS; IT’S OUR OWN LAW
address
tsunami
lay zone with the
evacuation routes
NOW. WE’RE IN NEW TERRITORY, I ADMIT’
purpose of differ-
and needs, and to
entiating between
identify
evacua-
Planner Carole Connell
areas of higher ver-
tion improvement
sus lower risk.
projects.
The designation
Along
with
will address future zoning education and outreach when “there are no reason- Gearhart, the state is col-
decisions and “refl ect the and encourages policies to able lower-risk alternative laborating with 10 other
community’s risk tolerance “consider tsunami risks and sites available for the pro- coastal jurisdictions through
and its application of miti- evacuation routes and sig- posed use,” or evacuation two federal grants provided
gation measures,” Connell nage when planning.”
measures are provided to by the National Oceanic
wrote in her staff report.
All land identifi ed as minimize risk.
and Atmospheric Adminis-
The tsunami resiliency “subject to inundation from
“For example, a new tration on this project, the
comprehensive plan lays the XXL magnitude local hotel with a vertical evacu- closest communities being
out general policies, evac- source tsunami event” are ation structure built into its Rockaway Beach, Tilla-
uation policy concepts and subject to requirements, roof might get a waiver on mook County and New-
port, with participation as
far south as North Bend and
Port Orford.
These
communi-
ties expressed interest in
addressing their individual
tsunami risk, Reed said.
Department of Land
Conservation and Develop-
ment staff provide techni-
cal and fi nancial support to
the city to prioritize long-
term planning related to the
Cascadia Subduction Zone
earthquake and tsunami
event.
By identifying projects
now and prioritizing them
in a plan, communities will
be able to take advantage of
grant funds when they arise
more readily, such as FEMA
hazard mitigation assistance
funds.
“The state repealed this;
it’s our own law now,” Con-
nell said at the council meet-
ing. “We’re in new territory,
I admit.”
Popular osprey cam in Seaside captures losses at nest
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
A wildlife camera trained
on an osprey nest at Sea-
side’s Broadway Park has
given people an intimate
look at the wild birds since
2013, but nature got a little
too real last week.
The male osprey, the
main provider for the nest’s
three growing chicks, disap-
peared. Some viewers say
they last saw him on cam-
era at the end of June with
a fi shhook embedded in his
chest.
Instead of immediately
going out to hunt in his
place, the female osprey
stayed put on the nest. When
she fi nally did go hunting, it
was a case of too little, too
late. The smallest chick died
— likely from starvation —
followed soon by a second
chick.
Viewers who watched the
events unfold over the cam-
era’s popular live feed online
were upset. Many demanded
that the Necanicum Water-
shed Council, which main-
tains the camera, or Wildlife
Center of the North Coast,
intervene.
“It’s been rough,” said
Angie Reseland, of the Neca-
nicum Watershed Council.
“It’s nature and nature does
really cruel things some-
times and it’s hard because
everybody tunes into this.”
The osprey couple —
nicknamed “Bob and Betty”
by viewers — had had a
string of successful years at
the nest. Viewers celebrated
each new egg, each fl edged
Necanicum Watershed Council
An adult osprey, caught on a popular live feed of a nest in Seaside’s Broadway Park in June 2018, watches over chicks and eggs.
chick. People were not emo-
tionally prepared for things
to not go well this year,
Reseland said.
But as they watched the
chicks’ health begin to go
downhill “basically, there
wasn’t anything we could do
unless the federal govern-
ment gave us permission,”
she said.
The Wildlife Center of
the North Coast is licensed
by the U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service to rescue and
rehabilitate wild animals,
but must follow federal reg-
ulations set by the agency or
risk losing its license.
When it comes to an
active migratory bird nest
like the osprey nest at Broad-
way Park, from the time the
fi rst egg is laid until the last
chick is fl edged and leaves
the nest “nothing can be
done to that nest,” said Josh
Saranpaa, executive director
of the wildlife center.
“We can’t take the babies
or the adult or anything from
that nest to rehabilitate them
because they’re still in the
nest,” Saranpaa said. “As
far as the Fish and Wildlife
Service is concerned, it’s the
natural order to let nature
run its course.”
If chicks had started
questing for food and fallen
from the nest — a less than
ideal situation — the wildlife
center could have swooped
in and grabbed them.
But the wildlife cen-
ter exists primarily to mit-
igate human-caused issues
as much as possible. Though
viewers believe the male
osprey was injured because
of fi shing gear, there was no
proof that the bird died. Nor
is it clear why the female
didn’t begin hunting to feed
her chicks earlier.
The wildlife center did
place four extra salmon at
Serious incidents mark otherwise ‘quiet’ Fourth
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
With complaints from the
2018 holiday, Seaside offi -
cials ramped up efforts to
deter illegal fi reworks with
both personnel and educa-
tional outreach, including
public service announce-
ments and electronic reader
boards set up at both
entrances to the city.
“The weekend wasn’t
that busy, we just had more
major calls, which is eerie
for us,” Fire Chief Joey
Daniels said.
Firefi ghters “hit the
beach as hard as we could,”
he said.
While fi reworks com-
plaints were down, separate
incidents saw fi ve people
Life Flighted to Portland.
Incidents included a fi re-
works hand injury, a burned
child, and an unresponsive
person on the Prom, Dan-
iels said.
A man with serious knife
wounds was found in dune
grass on the beach in Sea-
side after midnight on July
6 and received transport, as
did another unresponsive
person, Daniels said.
The weekend saw seven
water rescues, including
the grandchildren of a for-
KNIFE
INCIDENTS
UNDER
INVESTIGATION
Shortly after midnight on
Saturday morning, July
6 police responded to a
disturbance in the area of
Ave. K and the Prome-
nade, where they found
the adult male with
serious injuries.
A short time after a
second adult male with a
knife wound was report-
ed to be at Providence
Seaside Hospital being
treated for injuries.
Seaside Police
Illegal fi reworks confi scated by Seaside Police after the Fourth
of July weekend.
mer city manager, Larry
Lehman.
According to Police
Chief Dave Ham, Seaside
Police took 56 calls on July
4, “a hodgepodge of our
normal type of calls,” he
said.
Ham said at least 13 fi re-
works citations were issued
and four arrests on Indepen-
dence Day. “It’s not a lot,
but it did keep us busy.”
Extra state troopers came
in, with 10 in total making
traffi c stops and fi reworks
interdictions.
Three plainclothes police
in patrolled the beach from 7
to 10 p.m., he added.
“We were pretty quiet
from the time the fi reworks
ended to the time I went
home at about midnight,”
Ham said. “It was overall a
good night.”
Additional patrol staff
continued
through
the
weekend.
“Sunday slowed down,”
Ham said. “But there were
still people in town. Over-
all, I thought it was a pretty
good Fourth of July.”
The Clatsop County
Major Crime Team was
activated and detectives
responded to the scene.
The investigations are
continuing, Police Chief
Dave Ham said Monday.
Mayor Jay Barber and
councilors thanked respond-
ers for their work.
“There were several seri-
ous accidents,” Barber said.
“There was a good response
in every case, from what
I’ve heard. Please con-
vey our appreciation to our
troops. It’s part of who we
are as a city to serve our vis-
itors and citizens well.”
the base of the pole where the
nest is located. The mother
osprey only took one.
“It can be diffi cult for
folks to witness sad events
such as the loss of an adult
and the struggles of the
chicks,” said Leslie Henry, a
wildlife biologist and permit
specialist for the Fish and
Wildlife Service. “Unfortu-
nately letting nature take its
course would be the most
appropriate action. If the
chicks or the adult ended up
on the ground and needed
assistance then a permitted
rehabilitator could provide
that care.”
Things started to look
up over the weekend, how-
ever. The remaining chick is
being fed and another adult
osprey, believed to be male,
showed up at the nest with
the mother. It is not clear if
the new adult is the father
or a different bird.
Camera footage Monday
morning showed both adult
birds in the nest with the
remaining chick.
Saranpaa, trying to look
on the bright side of the
whole situation, believes
it could be a good edu-
cational moment about
potential human impacts
on wildlife.
If the adult male osprey
did die or stayed away from
the nest and couldn’t hunt
because it was injured by
fi shing gear, that effect cas-
caded down to his offspring.
In previous years, one
osprey chick suffocated in a
plastic bag that blew up onto
the nest.
Still, as diffi cult as it is to
watch, birds die in nests all
the time.
The wildlife center main-
tains nest boxes for swal-
lows all over its property
outside of Astoria. At the
end of the nesting season,
staff and volunteers clean
out the boxes.
“Four out of 10 of them
have dead babies from that
season,” Saranpaa said.
“This sort of thing hap-
pens a lot, and in different
nests,” he added. But in Sea-
side, “there’s an actual cam-
era on it and people are see-
ing the realities of nature,
which are pretty diffi cult to
deal with.”
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