$2.4 million proposed for oil spill area.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard More than $2.4 million would be spent to help wildlife and to improve recreation facilities on the Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a geographical term that is used to describe the coast of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. Stretching 362 miles from Astoria to the California border, the Oregon Coast is unique in that the whole coastline is public land. in the aftermath of the New Carissa  The M/V New Carissa oil spill oil spill: see water pollution. under a draft restoration plan made public Tuesday. "In a nutshell, it's coming up with the public resource injuries that resulted from the spill and then looking at a number of different alternatives for restoring the different categories," said Larry Mangan, senior biologist for the Bureau of Land Management's Coos Bay Coos Bay (k  s), city (1990 pop. 15,076), Coos co., SW Oreg., a port of entry on Coos Bay; founded 1854 as Marshfield, inc. 1874, renamed 1944. District and case manager for the plan.
The New Carissa Damage Assessment Restoration Plan was put together under the direction of a panel of state and federal land agencies and Indian tribes INDIAN TRIBE. A separate and distinct community or body of the aboriginal Indian race of men found in the United States. 2. Such a tribe, situated within the boundaries of a state, and exercising the powers of government and, sovereignty, under the national that are legal trustees for natural resources damaged after the 660-foot cargo ship went aground a·ground adv. & adj. 1. Onto or on a shore, reef, or the bottom of a body of water: a ship that ran aground; a ship aground offshore. 2. north of Coos Bay on Feb. 4, 1999. The ship broke up and leaked somewhere between 25,000 and 140,000 gallons of oil. The spill led to the deaths of hundreds of birds, the Birds, The Hitchcock film in which birds turn on the human race and terrorize a town. [Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 51] See : Birds plan says, including 262 marbled murrelets The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) is a small seabird from the North Pacific. It is an unusual member of the auk family, nesting far inland in old-growth and mature forests. Its habit of nesting in trees was not known until a tree-climber found a chick in 1974. , a federally listed threatened species, and up to eight Western snowy plovers, which are also threatened. Another 672 shorebirds were killed, along with 2,203 sea birds and gulls. Finally, the report says, about 29,000 recreation trips to the coast were "lost or diminished" because of the disaster. In response, the plan proposes to help the affected bird species through a combination of habitat acquisition and protection, along with predator management. In the case of the Western snowy plover, for example, the restoration plan would manage restored plover plover (plŭv`ər), common name for some members of the large family Charadriidae, shore birds, small to medium in size, found in ice-free lands all over the world. habitat on the Coos Bay North Spit for the next 30 years. It would also recruit, train, place and monitor docents for critical plover breeding areas. The proposed restoration budget totals $2.4 million, with about $2 million going for bird restoration projects. The budget, though, does not include land acquisition, which Mangan said is key to aiding some species. Money would come from the $4 million fund set up last year after a number of liability lawsuits against the ship's owners and operators were settled. More could come from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund managed by the Coast Guard. Land acquisition on the coast could push the total cost of restoration well beyond the $4 million settlement fund, but it's a sensible approach to helping birds, Mangan said. "We looked at eight to 10 different alternatives for the marbled murrelet," he said. "The only one that made sense was acquisition of unprotected habitat." It's not clear, he said, whether suitable habitat is available on the market, and the program will not force landowners to sell. "We have come to think there are at least some tracts available. But we haven't entered into any discussions or deals." The proposal also calls for predator management to protect south coast seabird colonies, where predators ranging from ravens and crows to skunks and foxes have increasingly hurt nesting populations. One fairly simple method proposed by the plan is use of predator-proof trash cans, cutting off an easy food supply for predators and reducing their population in the area. "Ravens and crows are the predominant predators of snowy plovers and seabirds," Mangan said. "Also skunks and raccoons. Those sorts of animals will get into trash when it's available, so the predator population is elevated because of their access to food." Finally the plan proposes to spend about $404,000 on various recreation site projects on the coast, from trail and sign maintenance to expanding the day use area at Horsfall Beach. Two public comment meetings will be held. One will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 7 at the Newport Public Library, 35 W. Nye St., Newport; the other is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 8 at the North Bend North Bend is the name of several places in the United States of America:
The full draft plan is available on the Web at http:// OregonFWO.fws.gov. |
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