This pole snapped in a storm, causing the destruction of the osprey nest.

SEASIDE — Seaside’s osprey couple may be homeless this year, but local nature lovers hope the condition is only temporary.

The pole holding the osprey nest in Broadway Park snapped in hurricane-force winds two weeks ago, spilling both the nest on top of the pole and a camera that gave a bird’s eye view of the nest.

But the pole will be replaced, said Neal Maine, a local nature photographer and biologist who was involved in setting up the first pole in 2013.

“There’s no doubt about a replacement,” Maine said. “We just need some mechanics to make it happen.”

The breeding pair of ospreys has set up house in Seaside every spring for several years. At first, they built a nest on a power pole bordering the old football field in Broadway Park. But when artificial turf was installed on the field in 2011, the nest was removed and preserved in a barn owned by the North Coast Land Conservancy.

The nest later was placed on the trunk of a hemlock tree donated by a local timber company. However, the trunk rotted, and the windstorm broke it in two places, Maine said.

He already has contacted Pacific Power officials to inquire about obtaining a treated pole that may last longer.

But the ospreys may not be able to wait too long.

“We had the male osprey come into town,” Maine said. The arrival is early; usually the birds begin arriving the first week of May. The female hasn’t yet been sighted. Although they go their separate ways after mating season, they rejoin each other in the spring. Ospreys mate for life.

A joint fundraising effort by the city, the Necanicum Watershed Council and local donors raised enough money to buy and install a camera over the nest in 2013. The webcam proved popular, as observers watched osprey hatchlings emerge from eggs, fledge and fly away. The pole is already being missed, Maine said.

“There’s a large contingent of people who are really anxious about it,” he added. “We definitely have to replace it.”

Melyssa Graeper, coordinator of the Necanicum Watershed Council, said the goal is to install a new pole in April.

“We have had a breeding pair there since we installed the pole,” Graeper said. “The birds will come back and see that the nest is gone, but that is not unusual.”

The fine feathered fowl most likely will rebuild the nest, she said. But another fundraising effort will be needed to purchase and install a better camera.

“We’re trying to figure out how much it will cost us and who wants to be involved,” Graeper said. The Seaside Visitors Bureau, Seaside School District and the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District may be asked to participate, she added.

Costs could range from $3,000 to $13,000, Graeper said. Adding to the expense could be adding a hard-wired connection from the camera to the computer. This will provide more ability to focus and turn the camera, which proved to be challenges with the former wireless connection.

Funds from a raffle during the watershed’s 10th annual Bird Day, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the Bob Chisholm Community Center will go toward the osprey project, Graeper said.