Environment - Page 17

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews YACHATS — While their winged tenants are wintering in warmer climes, a local group of bird-lovers is expanding to provide more nesting boxes for some migrating species. Thanks to the efforts of SWIFTY — Swallows In Flight to Yachats — tree swallows, violet-green swallows, chickadees and purple martins may find more housing options in the spring

By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service The last major pieces of the contract to build the wave energy test facility PacWave South near Waldport have been executed, paving the way for the completion of the Oregon State University-led facility off the central coast. PacWave South will be the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States. The facility

By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service NEWPORT – Sixteen ocean-themed films will be featured during the inaugural Big Blue Film Fest Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28 at Hatfield Marine Science Center. The festival is designed to raise awareness about marine issues and engage the community in scientific research in an entertaining way, organizers said. It is a new iteration of the popular

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews To-go food is changing in Newport.  Taking home that leftover salad from the cafe or burrito from the drive-through could look a lot different now for diners at Newport’s restaurants as the city enacts one of Oregon’s strictest bans on single-use plastic food containers. More coastal cities could be next. For many restaurants, the ordinance is

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews YACHATS – A cold spring, a rainy June and December, and a warm, dry September and October all ended up combining to make 2022 a very average weather year for the central Oregon coast. But when it comes to weather, average can be OK. A wet end to the month of December brought yearly rain totals

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews Oregon’s beaches are enjoyed by countless tourists and locals every year, drawn by soft sand and seemingly endless vistas. Far less accessible, however, are the rocky crags and outcroppings that make up more than 40 percent of the state’s 363 miles of Pacific Ocean shoreline. Now, propelled by years of volunteer effort and planning, the state is

By MICHAEL MILSTEIN/NOAA Fisheries The black-and-white pattern of a killer whale stood out to an Oregon fisherman 30 miles southwest of Newport. He spotted it at 1:47 p.m. June 26. The whale was belly up — and dead. A lone gull stood atop the carcass, which had a turquoise and yellow rope wound tightly around its body above its

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews NEWPORT — Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season will not open until at least Dec. 31 after a new round of testing showed lingering levels of domoic acid and low levels of meat yield in some areas. A decision will be made on or around Dec. 18 whether to allow the state’s $60 million 2022 crab

By JORDAN ESSOE/Yac­­hatsNews.co­­m WALDPORT – The first Port of Alsea meeting seeking solution for Eckman Lake’s problems with pollution and harmful algal blooms was met with some public opposition Tuesday. But on Wednesday, the Port suggested a new, potential path forward that might entice frustrated lakeside homeowners – allowing them to take ownership of the lake and manage it