Whale Watching: Oregon’s special seasonal gift

Mother Nature offers an astonishing gift the week between Christmas and New Year’s. That’s when more than 18,000 gray whales cruise down the Oregon Coast to their winter migration destination, the lagoons of Baja, Mexico. 

Trained volunteers are present at 24 parks and viewpoints along the 365-mile coast, offering watching tips and excellent information about these remarkable marine mammals. The state parks department designates these locations as “Whale Watching Spoken Here” sites. The winter (southbound) migration sees the highest concentration of whales—about 30 an hour, and though many of them are out about three to five miles form shore, enough pass close enough to stir excitement and wonder.

The Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay is a great place to stop in for information and spotting advice. It’s open 10 – 4 September to May. Whale watchers are encouraged to report their sightings; the numbers and locations are collected and posted during and after each season. During the 2011 winter migrations, top watching spots included Cape Meares, Cape Ferreio, and Boiler Bay. 

Many Oregon coast state park campgrounds are open year-round. Among them: Cape Lookout, Cape Kiwanda, and Beverly Beach State Park.

National Park funds dangling off "Fiscal Cliff"

In the “all-things-being-connected” category... the fiscal cliff crises means our beloved national parks are facing big cuts in funding and fewer American may have less money to travel if taxes are increased—which, in turn means towns and communities will also suffer from lack of revenue generated from park visitors. 

The National Park Service is looking at an automatic 8.2 percent cut in government support—$218 million across the country. To put that figure in perspective, it’s the amount of money the agency spends at the 150 smallest national parks, among them the Northwest’s Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Fort Vancouver, and Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

Mount Rainier has a current annual operating budget of $11.7 million, down $500,000 over the past couple of years. Small changes, like closing the road from Longmire to Paradise on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, save money by cutting back on snow removal—because there’s not enough money for the crews. 

... The advocacy group, the National Parks Conservation Association, points out that the budget for our National Park Service is one-fourteenth of one percent of the federal budget. It begs the question then as to how much will it actually help the deficit vs. how much will it hurt those of us (and our “guests” from other countries) to be denied access to our treasured, last protected wild spaces? Stay tuned...