Courtesy photo
Depoe Bay City Councilors Tuesday night learned from Public Works Superintendent Terry Owings that five, very loud and brand new, tsunami warning sirens will be installed along Highway 101 from near Whale Cove Inn on the south to Thundering Shores to the north. They will also have the capability of acting like a bullhorn for public announcements as to the status of the ocean and any tsunami wave activity. Owings says they’re working out the placement of the tall power poles and getting power to them, along with communications capabilities for voice messaging to the public. He said it’s requiring tight scheduling with Central Lincoln People’s Utility District, the manufacturer and the installer, GB Manchester Corporation. Owings says the tsunami warning system should be up, tested and ready to go in the event of a tsunami by mid-Summer.
Wonder how many birds these will disturb? If only people would care more about one another, and the businesses that will lose money because of their “precious birds”, our country might actually start recovering!
The U.S. has a treaty with every country along the Pacific Flyway, from Canada to Chile. The US Fish and Wildlife Service had no choice but to study the effects of the fireworks and take action which they did. What hurts is that these fireworks have been going on for years and the business community relies on them for a little extra boost during the summer. There might be another location that the Chamber might be able to use. I can’t imagine that they would simply throw up their hands and walk away. There’s gotta be a location.
Yes, the F&WS did their job. I just don’t understand the person that started the problem; one person complains, and the whole thing gets shut down. Plus, in order to have a completely scientific study, wouldn’t they need to be studying it for several years in order to have data to match against? Depoe Bay is so tiny, there’s just not a whole lot of real estate to put a large crowd of people, and still have access to the businesses. People matter more than animals!
To frame the problem as being between animals and humans is really a faulty framing. We’re very intelligent beings. We don’t have to take the bait of “either/or.” We CAN solve the problem and there are efforts underway right now to do just that. We’ll see what the Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce comes up with.
You’re right, we are very intelligent, as created that way. And we are intelligent enough to see the difference between a birds’ nest and a business, and to put the weight in the right place. My point is not that I think it’s between animals and humans…probably, the person complaining just didn’t like the noise themselves and decided to use the “crutch” of environmental concerns. If this was in Portland, or Salem, then yeah, relocate, find another spot. Again, I sure pray they do find a spot. And, I pray the one who complained can see for the future, to give a bit of concern for their neighbors. We all have to be looking out for each other. Thanks for the conversation.
Please allow the possibility that the one complaining might also consider the birds her neighbors as well.
But the hammer that trumps our pleasant little conversation is the North American Flyway Treaty which is enforced with great vigor Canada to Chile. EVEN in Nevada. In short, you don’t mess with it because there are very costly fines that befall willful violators. Local politics and romantic notions of “community” also include the natural environment. The business community is valuable, important, and necessary, but by no means is it ALWAYS RIGHT. Commercial convenience should always be given serious review but never should it be the end-all be-all in community decision-making. Anything can be killed by a thousand paper cuts. The most-often heard excuse for environmental degradation is “But it’s just one little piece of the coast…really….” One little piece here, another little piece there. But it’s always for “a good reason, etc, etc, etc.” Singer-songwriter Joanie Mitchell had it right in her pop song back in the ’70s…”They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…” Humans keep breeding, rationalizing, justifying…and they wonder where the natural world went. Convenience is a clever seducer.