Congratulations to the City of Cannon Beach, which lost its elementary school but gained a new shoreline natural space for people and wildlife to enjoy, in perpetuity. A 1.38-acre parcel bordering Ecola Creek—essentially the shuttered school’s playground—has been transferred to Cannon Beach from the Seaside School District via Clatsop County, which regained ownership of the property after the school closed last June.
As a member of Cannon Beach’s ad hoc Greater Ecola Natural Area Planning Committee, North Coast Land Conservancy Executive Director Katie Voelke has been among those quietly lobbying for the land to become a community park. The transfer will allow Cannon Beach to extend its creekside recreational trail system all the way to the beach. Discussions are also under way with members of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes to develop an interpretive center on the site that will honor the tribes’ historical and contemporary cultural connection to the property.
“It’s been great to see all that Cannon Beach has accomplished in recent years, with the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve and with creation of the natural area and trail around the lagoons and along the creek,” Voelke said. “Now another piece of the puzzle is in place at the mouth of the creek.”
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