Friday, September 10, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Elk: ‘This feels like
the end, but it is
really the beginning
of very hard work’
Continued from Page A1
recommendations
and
actions, but the goal is to
continue to work together.
Certain initiatives will
require a high degree of
continued
cooperation,
community engagement
and some outside funding,
stakeholders said.
Culling — always a
controversial proposal —
remains on the table, but
will take some time to
implement and requires
more data and commu-
nity outreach. Warrenton
plans to pursue hunting as
an option to control urban
herds, however.
Balensifer anticipates
some trepidation about
wildlife management in
city limits, but exactly how
the city will proceed with
such management involves
questions that have not
been answered yet, he said.
Any culling activities
will occur outside city lim-
its fi rst.
“I do think as we learn
from that, that will inform
practices
closer
and
inside,” Balensifer said.
He expects the City
Commission will tackle
other issues fi rst, though,
such as reexamining War-
renton’s wildlife feeding
ordinance and how it is
being enforced.
Gearhart City Adminis-
trator Chad Sweet expects
some of the recommenda-
tions city leaders agreed
to will begin to appear on
meeting agendas in the
near future.
There are some items
the city can begin to tackle
sooner rather than later, he
said. Things like reviewing
sections of the city code
that deal with fences, pro-
viding information about
types of landscapes that
deter elk from an area
rather than entice them, or
installing more educational
signs.
Danny Miller/The Astorian
Guy Capoeman speaks during a welcome pole dedication
in 2016 at Ne Cus’ Park in Cannon Beach.
Pole: Students to develop
welcome pole, enhance mural
Continued from Page A1
Student Blake Baugher said the new
campus pole will face the elementary
school. Lighting will likely be from dawn
to midnight. Benches, native plants, a path
and signage could be added.
The donation of a cedar log has already
been pledged by Weyerhaeuser, which in
2016 donated the land for the new high
school and middle school campus.
The welcome pole comes with another
Native American heritage project, provid-
ing digital links to the mural on Broadway
near North Holladay.
During a class fi eld trip, students
noticed there wasn’t a lot of informa-
tion accompanying the Native-American
mural along the south side of Broadway
near North Holladay Drive. The images on
the mural, painted in 2008, represent the
essence of Northwest tribal culture, fi sh-
ing, canoe-making and family life.
Students, with assistance from the Clat-
sop-Nehalem tribe and local businesses,
will add a QR code to link visitors to the
tribe’s website.
After Basch publicized the students’
plans in a tribal newsletter, an anonymous
donation came in to fund the project. Stu-
dent Chloe Cox is working on sign design
and Madden Wunderlich has begun work
on a web page.
The heritage project and class are part
of the school’s capstone program.
The tribal history class won’t return
until fall 2022, but students intend to keep
the projects alive with an ongoing club.
Students will meet throughout the school
year to identify funding sources and apply-
ing for grants.
“All the kids are pretty excited to fi g-
ure out where we’re at and what’s needed
to be done,” Westerholm said. “Our goal
is to have both these projects completed
and done when we teach this class in 2022.
We’re looking forward also to working with
the Clatsop-Nehalem. I hope they’re excited
to be working with us as well, to pass along
past knowledge, history and new projects.”
Front row, Alex Ramirez-Cruz, Blake Baugher, Madden Wunderlich,
Kiana Reyes, Emily Sills, Diego Munoz; back row, Madison Fleming (head down),
Syria Watson, Chayse Mason, Chloe Cox.
Bill Westerholm
Data
Then there are other
proposals that will require
more research and a more
nuanced understanding of
herd movements. In many
cases, this data is still
being collected and ana-
lyzed. In some areas, it has
not been collected at all.
This winter, staff at
Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park in Warren-
ton plan to analyze various
data tied to elk movement
in and around the park.
For around a dozen
years, park rangers and
volunteers have tracked
herd movements through
elk pellet monitoring and
driving surveys. Begin-
ning in 2020, rangers
worked with state wildlife
experts to fi t six elk across
three diff erent herds with
radio collars.
While they have man-
aged to get collars on elk
in two diff erent herds that
range around Camp Rilea
and the Astoria Regional
Airport, they were not
able to collar elk in a herd
that travels into the park
from the south. These elk
have proven more elusive,
said Carla Cole, chief of
resources at the park.
The fi nal two col-
lars instead went to elk
that wander the coast
between Sunset Beach and
Gearhart.
After the combined pel-
let, driving survey and
radio collar data is ana-
lyzed, Cole hopes to have
more concrete information
about elk movement by
early 2022.
Members of the elk col-
laborative do not expect
to fi nd a one-size-fi ts-all
solution to the issues con-
nected to the elk herds.
The key is to remain fl exi-
ble and in close touch with
one another, they said.
Vanessa
Blackstone,
a wildlife ecologist and
member of the elk collab-
orative who previously
worked for the state, cau-
tioned the group. “As we
fi nd solutions that fail,
remain open-minded to
fi nd the ones that will
succeed.”
DINING
on the
NORTH COAST
Fireworks: Local fi rst
responders oppose ban
Continued from Page A1
Firehouse: Highlands
Lane land swap will go on
Continued from Page A1
Mayor Paulina Cockrum
said the court will hear argu-
ments that the preliminary
geotechnical report does not
contain enough information
to go to the voters.
“Typically
prelimi-
nary geotech and architect
reports are the council’s
due diligence on this issue,
and would be enough to get
accurate costs for the proj-
ect,” she said. “These costs
have been published on the
city website and were dis-
cussed in detail at the Aug.
13 meeting.”
Zimmerman said his
preference was to improve
the ballot language and hold
the vote this year.
“But it is what it is,” he
said. “All the city needed to
do was agree to amend bond
language in line with our
complaint. ... It would be
over and on to November.”
City Attorney Peter
Watts said the land swap to
bring the Highlands Lane
property into the urban
growth boundary will pro-
ceed, as the transaction is
not conditioned on passage
of the bond levy.
“The idea was to lock up
land for a future fi re station,
whether that happens in the
near term or long term,”
Watts said.
CANNON BEACH
WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO?
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Junior Menu
RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
• Lighter appetite menu
E
RIL Y’
S
R.J. Marx
The Gearhart fi rehouse off Pacifi c Way.
friends injured, Bowman
said. “Nor do they want
their neighborhood catching
on fi re,” he said. “The fi re-
works are generally set off in
the street with little chance
that anything will catch on
fi re. And since the discarded
fi reworks are in front of their
residence, they generally
clean it up.”
Interim Fire Chief Josh
Como said fi refi ghters and
police cannot seize or write
fi nes for fi reworks unless
witnessing them being set
off .
“Creating this ordinance
will only hurt the core of the
city of Gearhart, the people
that are recreating safely,
where legal fi reworks have
not been a threat or harm to
the public or had fi re depart-
ment issues with legal fi re-
works,” Como said.
This year, out of 25 calls
on the Fourth of July, none
were directly to illegal fi re-
works, he said.
“Placing a fi reworks
ban into eff ect will create a
greater strain in which we
will not be able to handle the
extra threat dune grass fi res,
as well as structure fi res,
present,” Como said.
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July Fourth fi reworks on the
beach in Gearhart.
Mayor Paulina Cock-
rum and City Councilor
Dan Jesse, Councilor Kerry
Smith and Councilor Brent
Warren voted to consider a
proposed draft of the ordi-
nance at a work session
tentatively scheduled for
November. City Councilor
Reita Fackerell voted against
considering the draft.
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