Spring Unveiling Arts Festival information pages 5-8
VOL. 46, ISSUE 9
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CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
Cannon Beach History Center & Museum reopens after two year closure
April 29, 2022
From the Mayor’s desk
Chelsea Yarnell Guest Contributor
H
istory buffs rejoice! The Cannon Beach History Center & Museum is open after a two year closure. Due to the pandemic, the Museum closed to visitors in March 2020 and didn’t reopen for general admission until this past month. “We were open by appointment and for research only,” Museum Manager Andrea Suarez said. The museum is back to its usual hours, WednesdayMonday 11 am – 4 pm, closed Tuesdays. Admission to the Museum is by donation and there’s free parking behind the building. Research request are also taken. “We try to make it very accessible,” Suarez said. “It’s a really big community thing. People bring in items wanting to know more and we also want to know more about the history they find.” The Museum itself houses over 12,000 photos and thousands of historical documents and artifacts. Museum Manager Andrea Suarez and Development Coordinator Deanna Duplechain celebrate “Everyone is always excited the reopening of the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum after being closed to the public to come in and see THE for two years. Photo by Chelsea Yarnell cannon, the one that named Cannon Beach,” Development The 19th Annual Cottage Tour scenes and things that are not on storms. Coordinator Deanna Duplechain is back in person, Sept. 9-11, 2022. display yet.” “It’s a cool mysterious way to said. “Everyone also always likes Hosted by the Cannon Beach HisIf interested, volunteers can get teach history,” Suarez said. to read about the Terrible Tilly stotory Center & Museum, the Cottage in touch with Andrea via email at Pacific Northwest Dirt Fishing, ries. Now that [Terrible Tilly] is for based out of Nehalem, will also be Tour is the largest fundraiser of the andrea@cbhistory.org. sale, it’s re-ignited the interest in it. a special guest exhibit in June at the year and brings 20 percent of the We had the New York Times call Museum’s annual income. “The people who come here Museum. “Dirt Fishing,” or metal and quote Andrea about it.” “Learning some history about detecting, has uncovered numerous are pleasant and are interested in A few new exhibits will also be the land or house, you get a feel for what’s here,” Duplechain said. “A historical artifacts in the Cannon coming to the Museum this year. your community,” Suarez said. “It’s lot of people like to chat and share Beach area. “We’re changing a lot,” Suarez a really great community event, “They’re so passionate about the memories.” said. “At the end of the year we’ll everyone is out walking around. “ For more information, history things that they find,” said Dube changing out the shipwreck Roughly 40-50 volunteers are throwbacks, or to learn about upplechain. exhibit for ‘Storms of the Oregon needed for the event. Volunteers With the reopening to the public, coming events, follow the Cannon Coast.’” earn free access to the event. To the Museum is looking to add addi- Beach History Center & Museum The exhibit will have details of reach out for more information on Facebook or visit their website tional volunteers. different storms, but also display about volunteering, or about the at: cbhistory.org. “There are lots of perks to vol‘found items’ that were uncovered event, contact Duplechain at unteering at the Museum,” Suarez on the beaches as a result of the said. “You get to see behind-theCottage Tour returns in-person deanna@cbhistory.org.
Puffins return to their summer home Chelsea Yarnell
T
For The Gazette
ufted Puffins return to Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach every year in early April and call it home until late August. “When the puffins first show up they are usually spotted flying around [Haystack] Rock,” Friends of Haystack Rock’s Tiffany Boothe said. “After a while they finally settle on the Rock and start claiming their burrows and rekindling their relationship with each other.” The Haystack Rock Awareness Program, along with other partnerships including Friends of Haystack Rock, will host events during the weekend of April 30 to welcome the birds to their summer home. “A lot of people do not know that there are even puffins on the Oregon Coast and when they find out they are thrilled,” Boothe said. “I think that their comical appearance on land makes them a favorite. While they are extremely graceful on and in the water, they are quite clumsy on land.” The weekend events are free for learners of all ages. It features spotting scopes, tidepool tours, and a wide variety of interpretive stations, educational games, a labyrinth, art projects, and more. “Friends will be helping out at the scopes,” Booth said. “[We’ll] be showing people puffins and talking to people about them. We
will also try to highlight some of the other nesting birds on Haystack Rock.” Friends of Haystack Rock will also be doing a beach cleanup from 8:00 am - 10:00 am. “We will be meeting in front of Haystack Rock and we will be handing out beach cleaning supplies,” Boothe said. “We are also excited to implement the use of spent grain bags from local breweries instead of using new plastic bags. The idea behind this is that the grain bags are destined for the landfill anyways, so why not reuse them.” The event also spotlights the Tufted Puffin as a species in
peril. Since 1980, the number of Tufted Puffins at Haystack Rock has dropped from 600 to just 96. “No one knows for sure why,” Boothe said. “That is why it is so important to fund research programs directed at the puffin population decline. Friends of Haystack Rock has been helping fund programs through US Fish and Wildlife such as puffin surveys, genetic testing, and tagging.” Over the weekend there will be opportunities to learn more about ongoing efforts towards Tufted Puffin conservation. “The best time to see puffins is first thing in the morning,”
Boothe said. “This is when they are the most active. If you can time it right (during low tide) the Haystack Rock Awareness Program staff guides visitors where to look on the Rock for the puffins. However, it is important to remember not to get too memorized by the puffins. Always be aware of ocean conditions and the tides. Even on the nicest of days the surf can pick up and sneaker waves can do what they do best and sneak up on you.” For a full list of events and for more information, visit haystackrockawareness.com or friendsofhaystackrock.org.
Trees in our era Sam Steidel
Q
Cannon Beach Mayor
uestion is, does a property owner have a right to cut trees on their property? In order to build or a view or for any reason they wish? Didn’t every lot in town become a house by cutting a tree down? Does not the community also have a right to maintain a tree canopy? Yes, most houses built in CB at some time did cut trees. Had to, place was saturated by ‘em. It is pretty easy to say the tribes a long time ago would have seen a vastly more complete canopy. Hundred years ago, fifty, even ten years ago, each era has both a connection to a canopy we do not have today. Both in quantity and in loss. That said each era had reason to complain about loss of trees from the prior era as well as one which we could say is much better than we have today. Thing is, today we are finally realizing how dramatic the loss has become because we can see an end point. But before I delve into that, a definition. The term canopy refers to a cover, in this topic’s sense, the cover of the older stock of grandad trees. It is on us as caretakers of our environment to acknowledge that we have not well filled in with the follow on generations of the natural stock. Namely spruce, hemlock and cedar. We planted, in our attempt to be responsible; shore pine, decorative cherry and here and other pretty esteem-building anomalies. I confess I chose a beech, not wholly a native. I have since mended my ways and planted two hemlocks and a fir. (afraid the elk took the fir recently) Our, the city’s, plan for replacement could have been better designed to rebuild the canopy in the last fifty years if the program specified species. Bygones. Time now is to quit the blame pointing of past generations and whining about what couldhave-beens and dive into a solution for today. In both replacement and preservation. We can not replace the canopy that was. Not quickly. We can see our mistakes and move toward corrections. Yes in the past cutting was allowed, even promoted. To that point, so was filling in wetlands, then called swamps. So was shoving out sand for the ocean to take it away, or hauling sand here and about. So was scarfing up round ‘beach’ rock. Or moulding the intertidal estuaries with concrete and boulders digging drainages and shoring up hillsides. All things frowned upon today because we see them as finite, dangerous tactics or important landscapes. In the topic of the grandad trees, finite threatens the city scape. Yes many are aging to an extent they are dangerous. What with the cultural climate of insurance and liability, dangerous is also an ever lowering bar. The few remaining groves of canopy and the spartan stalwarts that fortune provided locations between house footprints have become the thin green line of survivors. Trees are a renewable resource, only if we remember to renew. Forget to pay your cable bill and no soap operas for you, forget to plant trees and no trees for generations. We neglected to pay, or perhaps we tried to pay on credit with ornamentals and shore pines. Just think, if every shore pine planted from the fifties on was a tall and healthy hemlock. Or my beech was a fifty year old cedar. Dang. My point is, if you haven’t got it yet, trees matter to the community.
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MAYOR, Page 2