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NORTHCOASTCITIZEN.COM
AUGUST 10, 2023
$1.50 VOLUME 30, NO. 16
Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests 50th anniversaries celebrated
Event attendees pose to commemorate the Tillamook State Forest’s 50th anniversary in front of the Tillamook Forest Center. PHOTO FROM TILLAMOOK FOREST CENTER
WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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oresters and residents gathered at the Tillamook Forest Center on July 22, to celebrate the Tillamook State Forest’s 50th anniversary with a group photo, family activities, cake and appearances by Smokey Bear. The event marked 50 years since Governor Tom McCall declared the Tillamook Burn the Tillamook State Forest on July 18, 1973, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Clatsop State Forest. District Forester Kate Skinner briefly addressed the group that assembled for the occasion, recalling McCall’s speech in
1972, calling the Tillamook Burn a permanent memory for Oregon. The burn refers to a series of four fires that took place between 1933 and 1951, destroying 355,000 acres of forest in Tillamook, Clatsop, Washington and Yamhill Counties. During the 1930s and 1940s, as landowners in the forests defaulted on their properties’ taxes allowing them to revert to county ownership, the counties entered into an agreement with the Oregon Department of Forestry to manage those lands. Over the decades following the burn, the forest was replanted, with 72 million seedlings being planted by hand by volunteers, many of them school children, and
Manzanita council approves hotel project WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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anzanita’s City Council approved the application for a new hotel development at the corner of Dorcas Lane and Classic Street on June 28, reversing the planning commission’s June denial. The development will have 25 units, with a mix of cabins, microcabins and hotel rooms, after the developer agreed to reduce the number of units to avoid the need to include a park in the project. The application had been remanded to the city after the decision to reject the initial application was appealed to Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). The rejection centered around disagreements between the city and developer over whether hotel rooms qualified as dwelling units and, if they did, whether the proposed development met density standard re-
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quirements. Manzanita’s building code allows for 6.5 units per acre outright, or 13 units per acre if the developer dedicates 40% of the development to either a park or golf course. The developer contended that even if the hotel rooms qualified as dwelling units and triggered the density standard, the development as proposed met the 40% minimum. The planning commission found in June that the rooms did qualify as dwelling units but that the proposed development had not met the park or golf course requirement. The commission said that the proposed green space did not amount to a park, as much of it comprised a narrow strip immediately adjacent to the road. The commission also found that the project would have negative impacts on traffic in the area and rejected the application on that basis as well. City council’s review of the decision began on June 26, with a lengthy meeting to hear presentations from proponents and opponents of the project. At that meeting, the lawyer for the developer said that the planning commission had erred when determining that the green spaces SEE HOTEL PAGE A6
many more being dropped from helicopters. Skinner praised the vision and dedication of those who helped to replant the forest following the burn, allowing it to return as a healthy and productive forest. The Clatsop State Forest was the first of Oregon’s state forests to begin to take shape as timber companies that elected to exchange their land with Clatsop County for property tax payments starting in World War I. In 1936, Clatsop County deeded its forestlands to the state government, becoming the first county to do so. The Clatsop State Forest covers 154,000 acres in Clatsop and Columbia counties. Today, the forests generate
timber revenue for counties and special districts, offers a variety of trails and other recreation opportunities and stores large quantities of carbon dioxide. Skinner, who has worked in the Tillamook State Forest for 26 years, said that the Tillamook Forest has yet to reach its maximum potential, as forestry science continues to evolve and trees continue to mature. The group of attendees first had a photo opportunity with Smokey Bear, did crafts in the education pavilion at the forest center and visited with representatives from ODF, the Oregon Fire Marshall and the Tillamook Forest Heritage Trust. They then moved to the plaza in front of the forest center for a
group photo, before returning to the education pavilion for Skinner’s remarks and a cake cutting ahead of a second appearance from Smokey. The forest center lies 22 miles east of Tillamook on Highway 6 and features a replica forest lookout tower, 250-foot pedestrian suspension bridge over the Wilson River and museum with permanent and rotating exhibits. The center is open from Spring to Fall, Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between Memorial and Labor Day and 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. before and after.
Yamamoto announces early retirement from board of county commissioners WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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illamook County Commissioner David Yamamoto announced that he will be retiring from the board in November or December of this year at the board’s meeting on August 1. Commissioners also instituted a cap on the issuance of new shortterm rental licenses in the county at 1% above the existing number in each unincorporated community and named Hangar B at the Port of Tillamook Bay an official historic landmark in Tillamook County. “It is with a great deal of apprehension yet with considerable anticipation, that I announce to you this morning, my intent to take an early retirement,” Yamamoto said. “I realize my early departure may be unexpected, but I feel it is time for me to concentrate on my personal retirement goals with my family.” Yamamoto was first elected to the board of county commissioners in 2016 and reelected in 2020. Before serving as a commissioner Yamamoto had worked timber and long-term care insurance before spending two years as a real estate agent in Pacific City prior to his election.
Yamamoto said that he had never considered running for elected office, but that when his involvement in numerous volunteer causes led people to encourage him to run, he decided to campaign. In his time as commissioner, Yamamoto has prided himself on his work promoting the naturalresource-based economy of Tillamook County. Yamamoto was a founding member of the Tillamook Working Lands and Waters Cooperative and has led tours of dairy, timber and fishing facilities for elected officials from around the state each year. Yamamoto also serves as the chair of the Forest Trust Lands Advisory Committee, where he has led the push for more consideration of the economic impacts of new forestry policies on the counties that receive revenues from the state forests. Yamamoto has promoted the county’s interests at the state, regional and national level too, travelling extensively to participate in conferences for county officials. Yamamoto is fond of saying that Tillamook County leads the way on a wide variety of policies and practices and is always eager to give credit to the county employees who make that possible.
“I have been fortunate to work with many exceptional people from across the state and nation but none compare to the amazing employees we have right here in Tillamook County,” Yamamoto said. Letters of interest from parties interested in serving as a commissioner from Yamamoto’s retirement until the beginning of 2025 will be accepted during a three-week period in late August and early September. The board of commissioners will then review the letters of interest in public meetings and interview candidates. Yamamoto will participate in the process with CommisSEE YAMAMOTO PAGE A6