North Coast
Citizen Serving North Tillamook County since 1996
NORTHCOASTCITIZEN.COM
JANUARY 11, 2024
$1.50 VOLUME 31 NO. 1
Tillamook Forester talks new modeling WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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Part of the Tillamook State Forest above the Kilchis River near Idaville in central Tillamook County. PHOTO BY WILL CHAPPELL
illamook State Forester Kate Skinner recently sat down with the Headlight Herald to discuss newly released modeling results for harvests in the state forests and the Tillamook State Forest specifically. Skinner said that harvest forecasts had been calibrated as much as possible to account for the unique and limiting elements in the Tillamook State Forest. Skinner also said that what appeared to be an over assignment of conservation areas for Northern spotted owls was a function of geographic limitations and the length of harvest rotations. The percentage of state forests being assigned for habitat conservation purposes under new plans for managing state forests became a point of concern at a joint meeting of the board of forestry and Forest Trust Land Advisory Councils in December. Federal laws being used to craft the new habitat conservation plan (HCP) that will set parameters for conservation of endangered species require that 40% of the forest be set aside for the preservation of Northern spotted owls. SEE NEW MODELING PAGE A3
Sheriff discusses homelessness, Measure 110, reelection bid
Stock appointed Manzanita Mayor WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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WILL CHAPPELL Citizen Editor
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s he prepares for a reelection bid, Tillamook Sheriff Josh Brown recently sat down
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with the Headlight Herald to discuss challenges facing law enforcement in the county and his bid for reelection. Brown talked at length about the need to increase both accountability of and services available to those experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders in the county and across Oregon. He said that Measure 110 had caused a massive spike in the number of overdoses he had observed and called on state and county leaders to give
law enforcement and social services providers the tools to address the crises. “I’m a cop and so my whole life has been about accountability and enforcing the law but I think modern policing is also about empathy and decency,” Brown said. “I don’t believe that the answer is just grab everybody up and throw them in jail. That’s not the answer. The answer is accountability but assistance.” Brown was elected sheriff
in 2020, after serving 15 years with the department, first as a corrections deputy, before moving into patrol after seven years. Prior to his election, Brown had never served in an administrative position and said that he looked to other Oregon sheriffs for help learning the ropes of his new position. From the beginning of his tenure, Brown’s focus has been on improving the department for his deputies so that they can better serve SEE SHERIFF PAGE A3
anzanita’s city council selected councilor Kathryn Stock to serve as the city’s mayor on January 3, following the November resignation of Mayor Deb Simmons. The council also heard an update on the city’s trails and the impacts of recent court rulings on their accessibility and work being undertaken by the public works to mitigate those impacts. Stock was the only applicant to fill the mayoralty following the resignation of Deb Simmons in November after she moved away from the city. Stock brings experience from a career working as a supply chain specialist with Nike, where she said she learned about the importance of communication. Stock was appointed to city council in August to fill a vacancy and said that she is interested in how things work and how people come together and that she is undeterred by complexity. Stock’s appointment leaves a vacancy on the council and applications are now being accepted, with the council planning to select a new member at their January meeting. Manzanita’s Public Works Director Dan Weitzel discussed the impacts of recent court rulings on Manzanita’s public trails. A district court ruling in a case involving a woman who fell on a path accessing a beach in the City of Newport found that the use of access trails was not inherently recreational. This meant that recreational immunity did not automatically shield governments from litigation in cases involving access trails and that juries would have to determine whether immunity existed on a case-by-case
basis. This led to a scramble by city and county governments across Oregon in recent months to mitigate their risk after Citycounty Insurance Services (CIS), which insures many government entities in the state, advised closing access paths while further review was undertaken. In Manzanita, this advice impacted 17 beach access trails and a handful of others around the city, according to Weitzel. The good news for the city is that the beach access trails on city property are very short, only running from the end of the pavement to the edge of sand dunes. Weitzel said that three of the trails at Horizon, Beeswax and Edmund Avenues had hazards that needed to be cleared, but that following that, they and the rest of the beach access trails could be reopened with the addition of signs warning users of their potential hazards. The elevated wooden pathway and stairs at Elk Meadows Park need mitigation work to reduce fall risk. Weitzel said that his staff and representatives from CIS were reviewing the situation and that he planned to work with the Lower Nehalem Trust on maintenance after the upgrades were completed during a closure. Several other ad hoc trails hewn by citizens over the years will be closed and marked as such and Weitzel plans to return to the council with updates on progressing work on signage at beach accesses in coming months. City Manager Leila Aman announced that she will be holding a state of the city speech on January 16. She also said that abatement work on the old elementary school building and Quonset hut at Underhill Plaza had come in on-budget.