MERTS History The vision for MERTS grew in the early 1990s, after the U.S. Navy scrapped its plans to base a pair of minesweepers at South Tongue Point. Instead, Oregon members of Congress helped convince the Navy to allocate $2 million for a research center on the site. For years the citizens and leaders of Astoria and Clatsop County, along with their elected officials, sought to turn South Tongue Point, a 120-acre riverside tract just east of Astoria, into economic development opportunities for the region—a region that has been severely affected by shifts in the fishing and timber industries. That tract became the home of the Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station (MERTS), which opened its doors in January, 1996. Approximately $1.5 million of a $2 million U.S. Department of Defense grant paid for constructing Phase I of the MERTS project, a 13,000 square-foot facility. The funds came as a result of the Department’s canceling plans to base two U.S. Navy mine hunters at the site. Congress subsequently approved a $5 million appropriation for Phase II that has expanded the Station to 43,000 square feet. The successful completion of Phase I was in part the result of early support from the Oregon Division of State Lands (DSL). The DSL participated in an environmental impact statement for the area and provided preliminary master planning. In anticipation of ‘home porting" the Navy’s mine hunters, it even dredged an access channel to the site for docks and piers. With the end of the Cold War, the ships never made it to Astoria. Nevertheless the groundwork was laid. The Oregon congressional delegation—Sen. Mark Hatfield and Rep. Elizabeth Furse—saw to it that the Navy stood behind its commitment to Astoria, and the MERTS project began. The State’s master plan assumed that Clatsop Community College would play an important role. It called for training new employees to staff incoming industry, with particular attention to environmental technology. The College could capitalize on nearly 30 years’ experience in maritime sciences training and certification, linking its talents to the Navy’s needs. The State proposal that requested the initial $2 million grant expanded on this theme. Developed in collaboration with Clatsop Community College and the Oregon Graduate Institute, it allocated a major portion of the Phase I building to CCC’s Maritime Sciences Department for offices and classrooms. This was welcome news for the program. Inadequate, outdated quarters on Youngs Bay were compromising the Maritime Sciences Program. Furthermore the College’s 50-foot training vessel, M/V FORERUNNER, was losing its berth to siltation in Young’s Bay. Ultimately, the Army Corps of Engineers granted a license to the College to use the Corps’ dock and pier adjacent to the MERTS site. The college and OGI sought educational partnerships to enhance the project. Soon the Coastal Studies and Technology Center at Seaside High School and Portland State University joined the collaboration. Each provided components of environmental education, research, and natural resource programs. updated 3/2001 CCC Home