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(June 8, 2006)

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The Oregon Coastal Futures Project is a project of
1000 Friends of Oregon, Oregon Downtown Development Association,
and
Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition

1000 Friends of Oregon is grateful for the following foundations' support of the Coastal Futures Project:

• Meyer Memorial Trust

• Collins Foundation

• Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust

• Goodman Foundation

• Over the River and Through the Woods Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation

July 20 , 2005

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COASTAL FUTURES PROJECT

Join us! The Mid-Coast Forum will be held at the Florence Events Center on Saturday, October 1, 2005

The mid-coast Forum, Tides of Tomorrow: Working Together for the Future, will be held at the Florence Events Center on Saturday, October 1, 2005. We have an exciting agenda, including local coastal success stories, breakout sessions looking at rural development issues, downtown renovation, Measure 37 updates and more. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury is our invited keynote speaker. Brochures will be mailed out mid-August. We hope to see you there! Learn more.

Be prepared: Nominate a mid-coast design project in September

The Coastal Futures Project will be accepting nominations for a design project on the mid-coast beginning in October, 2006. As the Project has done on the north coast, 1000 Friends and its partners will be offering design-related services for a project on the mid-coast (Lincoln County, and coastal Lane and Douglas Counties). There will be detailed information at the Forum in Florence on October 1. For more information, contact Dan Eisenbeis at 503-497-1000. Read the guidelines for eligible projects.

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COASTAL NEWS

Port of Astoria activities

Several activities are taking place at the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton. A new master plan is being developed which will guide for the airport’s long-term capital improvements for the next 20 years. Land around the airport will be needed for expansion. The plan will also look at land surrounding the airport. Most of it is currently undeveloped, but if that changes, there will be impacts to air traffic. Current activities at the airport are also expanding. Lektro, a company located at the airport, has the go-ahead to expand its existing business. The airport has taken steps towards ultimately constructing a new hangar and adding space in the airport’s industrial park. The Port, and the City of Warrenton, are also constructing a new water line to serve the industrial park.

Recreational Trail in the Astoria area

Astoria has about 400 acres of urban forest in its city limits. Much of it exists because it is too steep or unstable to build on. But it is full of trails, many known only to locals. Now the city is embarking on the process of an Astoria Trails Master Plan. Potential issues include motorized versus non-motorized use of trails, and location of new trails or shortcuts. Astoria received a $20,000 matching grant from the state’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) to help fund the planning process. City staff are providing in-kind match, and the Columbia River Estuary Study Task Force (CREST) through a National Park Service grant, is providing a staff person. See a map.

Highway 101 in Seaside

In May, the voters of Seaside rejected a Department of Transportation plan to widen Highway 101 through town. The $38 million earmarked for that project has been redistributed. In order to get any highway project in the future, Seaside now needs to develop a Transportation Systems Plan (TSP), and get it acknowledged by both ODOT and the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD). The TSP will determine what Seaside wants in transportation improvements: to be a local economic hub, or to be a small quiet town. Transportation would be quite different for those two options. Once Seaside decides on its vision, the city can compete for project funding again, according to Carole Richardson, Northwest Area Manager for ODOT.

State Parks May Purchase Dunes

In the town of Florence there is a signature parcel of property: 80 acres of dunes, dunal lakes, a stream and riverfront that have been at the heart of Florence since the town’s beginning. Lane County, which owns the Glenada property, proposed to sell it for development in order to fund other projects of the Lane County Parks Department. The citizens of Florence met this proposal with an outcry of protest. As a result, the State Parks Department is investigating the possibility of purchasing the property for a park. The land is already adjacent to other State Park property, called the Joaquin Miller tract, where Camp Florence is located. Because of its outstanding scenic and recreational values, the state may be interested in purchasing the Glenada property and protecting a longtime Florence landmark. Currently the county ands State Parks are discussing possibilities and looking into the options.

Forest Jobs Stay at Home

Menasha Forest Products will now be milling logs out of sawmills operating locally instead of exporting the logs out of Coos Bay to Japan. That’s good news to mill workers at sawmills like Southport Forest Products in North Bend and South Coast Lumber in Brookings. The last ship of exported logs left the Port of Coos Bay in mid July. The Port is thinking of upgrading its dock capacity to handle cranes and larger cargoes so that it can cash in on other international shipping opportunities. That would be good news for Coos Bay. Meantime, the timber cut by lumber companies on the coast will be milled on the coast as well, which can help local economies with family-wage jobs.

South Coast Wildlife Refuge

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is considering creating a new wildlife refuge along the south coast, in northern Curry County. Unlike the other six refuges on the coast, this one would be largely based on voluntary conservation easements, in which ranchers and other landowners are paid for some rights on their lands—in this case, for the Aleutian cackling geese to have exclusive grazing rights during their spring migration. USFWS is hoping to create an approximately 6,000 acre refuge by this means. Some landowners are in favor, and others are opposed. A major worry is that in signing the easement, the landowners would be giving up all rights for future development on their property, though they retain ownership and the property remains on the tax rolls. There is a possibility of a wind energy development in the area that some ranchers are interested in. The draft environmental assessment will be issued this fall by USFWS, which will open the public comment period on the proposal.

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Coastal Futures Update is edited by Cameron La Follette and Kate Kimball and brought to you by 1000 Friends of Oregon, a statewide organization dedicated to protecting Oregon's quality of life. To help support this work, including the distribution of Coastal Update, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.

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