In Astoria, 1,200 miles of the Columbia River spill into the vast Pacific.

From above, silver tributaries branch through marshlands and sloughs, catching diffused light on a gray March morning. Bulk carriers wait at anchor like pieces of the river themselves. On either side, the ocean shore sweeps into crescent curves, pressed against forests of spruce, fir and cedar. Now and then, a waterfall slips over the edge.

These lands and waters are home to salmon, elk, shorebirds and many thousands of other creatures. People who live here are a part of it all. They care deeply for this place, because caring springs from noticing, and the views are hard to miss.

This year’s Our Coast Magazine, the 14th edition to be published by The Astorian and the Chinook Observer, looks at relationships between people and land here in the Columbia-Pacific region.

Contributors like author and biologist Robert Michael Pyle and photographer Amiran White introduce ecology through a year in butterflies and document enduring traditions of the Chinook people, who have stewarded these lands for thousands of years.

Lukas Prinos, staff photographer at The Astorian, takes readers along the first 60 miles of the Oregon Coast Trail from the Columbia River to Tillamook Bay. From there, I visit Bayocean Peninsula, talking with people who remember growing up there in a town now lost to nature and memory.

Other stories are about industry (modern-day logging), foraging (a weekend tour on the Willapa River), belonging (a personal essay on Seaview) and tourism (strides being made toward accessible recreation). In between, there is painting and poetry, messages of connection sent in by readers.

As the editor of Our Coast, my hope is that you find these stories as captivating as we did watching them come to life.

Read the magazine online now, pick up a print copy at The Astorian, 949 Exchange St., or look for it along the coast at one of more than 100 locations.