Tillamook On The Cusp Of Change

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Tillamook County: On the cusp of change
Long known as a logging and dairy center, the county now promotes nature-based tourism

FACTBOX
• Tillamook County

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Sunday, October 08, 2006
MARK LARABEE
TILLAMOOK -- Long blue boats skim across crystal water past windswept dunes. As three kayakers paddle around a point on Sand Lake and head toward the ocean, they are greeted by unexpected guests.

A harbor seal and her pup lift their heads above surface, look around, then silently disappear, barely rippling the water. Their shadows pass gracefully under the boats before they bob up on the other side. Other than the seals and a lone kayaker, solitude on this tidal estuary in southern Tillamook County is complete.

Jennifer Copeland and Marge Seifert, friends from Clackamas on a guided, three-hour tour, said they often paddle mountain lakes but were unaware of how much protected water there is on the north Oregon coast.

"Most people think of the cheese factory when they think of Tillamook," said their guide, Cheryl Rorabeck-Siler, a former teacher and one of six partners in Kayak Tillamook County, a year-old business. "Kayaking hasn't occurred to most people. We're trying to change that."

The business is a small but integral piece of a fledgling economic movement in Tillamook County to attract more nature-based tourists. Government officials, business owners and conservationists say they hope to transform the county's image from a logging and dairy center by promoting its five estuaries, four bays, plentiful river systems and intimate sloughs and lakes.

The county provides $90,000 annually in grants to develop economic opportunities. The Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, through a National Park Service grant and other funding, is in the early stages of developing water-trails maps that will make the flat water more accessible. And local cities are beginning to redevelop to attract more visitors.

Proponents of increasing nature-based tourism say Tillamook County has more to offer besides the beaches that already attract people. The opportunities for bird-watching, hiking and paddling are almost untapped, they say. The hope is that people coming to experience nature will stay awhile. And eventually, the crowds will spur growth in service businesses.

"You look at Tillamook County and we're kind of sitting like a diamond in the rough," County Commissioner Mark Labhart said. "You provide it, they'll come. As you get more people here, and the hotels fill up, new hotels will be built, new restaurants will be built. It's a field of dreams."


Beginnings


Marc Hinz had just left his job as director of community education at Tillamook Bay Community College when he got the idea to open a kayaking company. Among other activities such as yoga and art, he had brought kayaking to the programs offered at the school, and knew it was a good fit for the area

"I would drive over these gorgeous waterways and I'd be thinking to myself 'Why are they empty,' " he said.

One of the problems with offering the classes through the college was that they were too expensive for many of the area's residents. He knew the county was struggling to bring in good-paying jobs and had heard stories about people moving away to find work. He concluded it could be profitable to combine the "underutilized manpower" and the natural resources.

"It was a huge niche that no one in Tillamook was concertedly trying to pursue," Hinz said.

Sure there were other water-based businesses catering to tourists. Sport fishing and crabbing are huge draws, and others were renting kayaks. But Hinz's idea was more of a mind-bender. He formed the company by taking on partners, not employees. They are local residents and many relied on logging or fishing for their livelihoods.

"Kayak Tillamook County is a value, it's an idea and it's a lifestyle," Hinz said. "It's a philosophy on how working human beings can get along with the environment."

Hinz took his idea to community leaders, many of whom backed the concept of adding a new dimension to the area's economy. Labhart calls Hinz one of the many "cheerleaders" who is making things happen.

They see Tillamook as the next Hood River, which transformed itself over the past two decades from an agriculture-based economy to one largely fed by windsurfing and other outdoor sports. With those tourists came a redevelopment of the city's downtown, with upscale shops and restaurants.


Economic shift


Environmentalism could be a hard sell in a community that has made its mark by raising cows, cutting timber and catching fish. But Labhart, Hinz and others say those in "resource extraction" businesses are warm to the idea of coexistence. They say dairy farmers are doing a good job of fencing off and replanting streamsides, building bridges over water and using holding tanks for manure.

Labhart said farmers typically don't want government regulation so they regulate themselves. Government grants have helped fund stream-rejuvenation programs

"Agriculture and forestry are always going to be our stalwarts, our anchors," he said. "But there are financial incentives for a farmer to do what's right. I don't see any conflict between a kayaker and a dairy farmer."

The county's economy definitely needs help. Although dairies established the community, the area is at "cow capacity," said Christy Vail, the county's director of economic development. She says spending development dollars on tourism pays off just as well or better than trying to attract the next manufacturing plant.

For example, Vail mentions a boat-building co-op that could tap into local expertise. Tillamook High School started a culinary program in conjunction with the Oregon Restaurant Association to build skills that could remain local.

A planned golf course and resort with meeting facilities at the Port of Tillamook could also draw others to open businesses catering to tourists. Another resort is being built in Garibaldi's Old Mill Marina. And both Tillamook and Garibaldi started urban renewal districts designed to make their downtowns more attractive to tourists.

"The old mind-set is changing," Vail said. "Having a clean water source is important to our farms and our fishing. We're going to have tourism anyway. My hope is that we'll attract the kind of visitors who will like us for who we are, those who have an appreciation for the environment and natural resources."


Pain and possibility


Hinz, Vail and others say the county is on the cusp, and while it's an exciting time, some economic realities can cause problems. The coast is a big draw for people who want second homes. But that has drawbacks.

"It's driven the cost of land and homes to the point that it's out of reach to the average wage earner who lives here year-round," Vail said.

For example, homes in a 157-unit hillside subdivision in Netarts start at $350,000. But Vail said the new neighborhood will generate only $58,000 a year in taxes for the county, not enough to cover the cost of police or other services.

There will be growing pains, they admit. But one thing everyone believes will help the nature-based economy flourish is the development of a waters-trails map. The Tillamook Estuaries Partnership is mapping Nehalem Bay and hopes to put out its first guide by next summer, said Claudine Rehn, accounting manager of the nonprofit. They plan maps for all the county's inland waterways.

They say the maps will provide paddlers with information on safety, historic points of interest and the location of launches and other support facilities. And while they recognize the economic benefits of the maps, Mark Trenholm, director of the estuaries partnership, said he hopes the maps also promote better land-use decisions.

"I hope people grasp the concept that water preservation has economic value," he said.

For Hinz, there's really no other option. "It will recast the image of Tillamook in the regional mind as a destination point for water activities," he said. "All the planets are aligning to make this so."

Mark Larabee: 503-294-7664; marklarabee@news.oregonian.com



This is good news for Tillamook County.
So given this information, perhaps the Tillamook State Forest 50/50 plan wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Clear cuts are not must see items on most tourists itineraries.



salmon hugger