Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current, August 09, 2019, Image 3

Seaside signal., August 09, 2019, Page A3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextFriday, August 9, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3 Housing authority buys Seaside apartments By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority has taken ownership of more than 40 units at the Clatsop Shores Apartments in Seaside from Clatsop County. The regional housing authority, which has man- aged the county’s affordable housing stock since 2013, took on more than $3 mil- lion in debt from the Bank of the Paciﬁ c to acquire the properties, located along U.S. Highway 101 on the northern banks of Mill Creek. Rents at the complex are between 50 and 80 per- cent of the region’s median income of $62,000. The county purchased Clatsop Shores in 2009 from a private developer turning the apartments into high-end condominiums. A settlement over the sale of the 300- unit Emerald Heights Apart- ments in Astoria to a private developer in the early 1990s tasked the county with main- R.J. Marx/Seaside Signal The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority recently took ownership of more than 40 units at the Clatsop Shores Apartments in Seaside. taining 100 units of afford- able housing. The county began to merge its housing author- ity with the regional group in 2013 and has since been transferring over all its prop- erties. The only property left to transfer is the Owens- Adair Building, a former hospital in downtown Asto- ria remodeled into a 46-unit complex for seniors and people with disabilities. Todd Johnston, execu- tive director of the regional housing authority, said it would assume the debt the county has on the Owens- Adair property and apply for money to ﬁ x some brick- work and replace the roof. With the acquisition of Owens-Adair, the regional housing authority will own 180 units in the county, including 60 in Warren- ton, 74 in Seaside and 46 in Astoria. “There’s more affordable housing needed, especially in the last few years as rents have gone up,” he said. Having a larger portfolio of housing helps the regional authority get ﬁ nancing for future projects, Johnston said. The regional housing authority recently secured more than $14 million in federal, state and private funds to construct 60 units in Tillamook for people at or below 60 percent of the area median income. It is part- nering on the project with KemperCo LLC, a company contracted by the Tillamook County Housing Task Force to develop the project. Birdwatching, nature hikes and more at Circle Creek 3:30 p.m.; the focus of this low-stress art class will be on drawing non-na- tive invasive species that can be found at Circle Creek and elsewhere in the region. On Tuesday, Aug. 27, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. geologist Tom Horning will explore how habitat is inﬂ uenced by geology on a walk through the ﬂ oodplain and forest. Space is limited at some events; get more details and register at NCLCtrust. org/on-the-land-summer- outings. Circle Creek Conserva- tion Center is at the end of Rippet Road at the south end of Seaside. From U.S. 101, 0.7 mile north of the junction with U.S. 26, turn west onto Rippet Road and follow it to the two barns at the end of the road. It is open to the pub- lic daily, dawn to dusk, conditions permitting. Read more at NCLCtrust. org/circle-creek-conserva- tion-center. Seaside Signal A moth safari, a botan- ical drawing workshop, and other free walks and workshops are scheduled in August at Circle Creek Conservation Center, a nature preserve open to the public at the south end of Seaside. Registration is open now. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Cir- cle Creek’s acquisition by North Coast Land Conservancy. Naturalist Mike Pat- terson will lead an early morning birding walk through a variety of habi- tats along Circle Creek on Friday, Aug. 2, from 8 to 10 a.m. Then on Saturday, Aug. 17, from 8 to 10 a.m. Patterson shares a glimpse of the variety of moths that inhabit the property. Artist Dorota Haber-Le- high leads a botanical drawing workshop on Fri- day, Aug. 5, from 1 to New agreement to restore salmon could impact Columbia River treaty By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The impact of a new agreement between native tribes and the Canadian gov- ernment to restore salmon to the upper reaches of the Columbia River will depend on how the ﬁ sh are man- aged, says the director of the Washington State Depart- ment of Agriculture. The Syilx Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc Indigenous Nations, Can- ada and British Columbia recently signed a renewable three-year letter of agree- ment to explore reintroduc- ing salmon into the Cana- dian portion of the Upper Columbia River Basin. They hope to restore ﬁ sh stocks to support indigenous food and social and ceremo- nial needs, according to a joint press release. The effort will comple- ment current negotiations between Canada and the U.S. modernizing the Columbia River Treaty. Whether and how much the agreements will impact irrigation water availability in the region remain up in the air. Canada’s federal govern- ment is working closely with British Columbia and the tribes to shape its approach to the negotiations, accord- ing to the press release. “We agreed to discuss ﬁ sh reintroduction with Canada,” a representative for the U.S. State Department Bureau of Wikimedia Commons The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington state. Western Hemisphere Affairs said in an e-mail to the Capi- tal Press. “We understand the issue of ﬁ sh reintroduction is important to many Columbia Basin tribes and residents.” Currently, ﬂ ow aug- mentation from U.S. proj- ects, supported by releases from Canadian Treaty proj- ects, improves conditions for out-migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River, the repre- sentative said. “Maintaining and improv- ing the health of existing stocks of anadromous ﬁ sh in the Columbia Basin through sound management is an essential prerequisite to any meaningful consideration of reintroduction into blocked areas in the future,” the rep- resentative added. The move to establish ﬁ sh runs above the Grand Coulee Dam would ﬁ rst impact that dam and Chief Joseph Dam, said Derek Sandison, the Washington State Department of Agri- culture director and former director of the state Depart- ment of Ecology’s Ofﬁ ce of the Columbia River. Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s and 1940s blocked salmon from reaching the Upper Columbia River in Canada, leading to the extir- pation of salmon stocks in those areas. Bringing the salmon back Scientists warn Oregon is lagging in disaster preparedness By SARAH ZIMMERMAN Associated Press Trav Williams The acquisition of Botts Marsh is a part of the Lower Nehalem Community Trust’s eﬀ ort to “Protect the Edge” of Nehalem Bay. Community trust completes acquisition of Botts Marsh Seaside Signal DINING on the NORTH COAST Great Restaurants in: GEARHART • SEASIDE CANNON BEACH WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO? • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner • Junior Menu RESTAURANT & LOUNGE • Lighter appetite menu R I LEY ’ S On June 24, Lower Nehalem Community Trust acquired Botts Marsh. Members of the trust credit work by the commu- nity to protect the 30-acre saltwater marsh from devel- opment, including the North Coast Land Conservancy who, earlier this year, part- nered with Craft 3, a regional nonproﬁ t, which provided a bridge loan to purchase the property, allowing time for the community trust to com- plete federal and state grant requirements. The acquisition of Botts Marsh is a part of the com- munity trust’s effort to “Pro- tect the Edge” of Nehalem Bay. Botts Marsh is an intact salt marsh that provides hab- itat for more than 125 spe- cies of birds and is a critical rearing habitat for Chinook and coho salmon. Conservation of the marsh also provides an opportunity to educate the public about intertidal wetlands and how they provide a variety of ecological services. These range from ﬁ sh and wildlife protection to ﬂ ood control, and carbon sequestration — important factors in offset- ting climate change. Funding for the acquisi- tion was provided by gifts from individual donors, the Oregon Watershed Enhance- ment Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through its North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant program. SALEM — Oregon state lawmakers aban- doned a multimillion-dol- lar project to develop early warning systems for earth- quakes and wildﬁ res, and scientists warn that the funding shake-up could endanger public safety and put Oregon further behind other West Coast states in preparing for natural disasters. Researchers were shocked when nearly $12 million to expand Shake- Alert and AlertWildﬁ re — early warning systems to help detect signiﬁ cant earthquakes and wild- ﬁ res — unexpectedly went up in smoke last month, just days before the end of the legislative session. Money for the projects was included as part of a larger funding package, but was stripped in a last-minute amendment. Disaster preparedness has continually been a focal point as Western states are poised to enter the hottest and driest months of wild- ﬁ re season. “We don’t know when the next big earthquake or wildﬁ re will strike, but we know it will happen at some point,” said Doug- las Toomey, a seismolo- gist and earth sciences pro- fessor at the University of Oregon who helps run both early warning detec- tion systems. And Oregon is “woefully” unprepared, he said. would require an upstream adult salmon migration com- ponent and a downstream juvenile salmon component, Sandison told the Capital Press. The speciﬁ c methods used for each would poten- tially have effects on the water supply and ﬂ ood-risk management, he said. Lake Roosevelt plays a large role in managing downstream ﬂ ood risk. During years of high runoff, spring lake lev- BEST BREAKFAST IN TOWN! 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Ecosystem function was included in both the U.S. and Canadian regional rec- ommendations for the treaty, primarily focusing on river ﬂ ow more than ﬁ sh passage, Sandison said. He doesn’t expect the new agreement to make treaty negotiations more difﬁ cult. The next round of negoti- ations is Sept. 10-11 in Cran- brook, British Columbia. Restoring anadromous ﬁ sh such as salmon was dis- cussed extensively in 2012- 2013 during formulation of the regional recommenda- tions and sovereign review, Sandison said. “It’s been talked about a lot,” he said. The department is fol- lowing the discussions, Sandison said. “We need more speciﬁ cs to be able to determine what the impacts might be to agri- culture,” he said.