Shoreline Articles

July 12, 2020

CoastWatch Joins Hunt for Hybrid Beachgrass

Rebecca Mostow in the field. Much of the terrain of the Oregon's sandy shoreline we see today has been shaped by two dominant, invasive beachgrass species. They build the tall, stable dunes that parallel sandy beaches, providing some protection for infrastructure but causing the decline of native animal and plant species. A team from Oregon State University...Read more
July 10, 2020

Environmental Steward Certificate Program Starts New Round

Ed Joyce (right) and Jesse Jones (center) at a training session for the marine debris survey, a project which would help participants qualify for the Environmental Steward Certificate.\Photo by Patricia Jensen. Oregon Shores and CoastWatch partners with Clatsop Community College (CCC) in sponsoring the Environmental Steward Certificate program, an innovative...Read more
CoastWatch training on rocky shore habitats.\Photo by Daniel Anderson.
July 10, 2020

CoastWatch Webinars Now Available on YouTube

CoastWatch training on rocky shore habitats.\Photo by Daniel Anderson. With the onset of pandemic restrictions on travel and meetings, CoastWatch pivoted rapidly toward working online to maintain volunteer training and public education and to keep the mile adopter community connected. It required some hasty re-orientation for a program that has always relied on...Read more
Siuslaw watershed during the most recent king tide.\Photo by Rena Olson, with aerial support from Lighthawk.
May 15, 2020

King Tides Project Looks Ahead

Siuslaw watershed during the most recent king tide.\Photo by Rena Olson, with aerial support from Lighthawk. The King Tide Project is already looking ahead to its 11th year. It may be spring, but in our plans, to borrow a line from a certain TV show, winter is coming! Here are the dates for the 2020-2021 version of the project, through which volunteer...Read more
May 7, 2020

Rocky Habitat Plan Enters Next Phase

Otter Rock tidepools at low tide.\Photo by Laurel Hillmann. On June 1, we finally began the "site designation" process, the long awaited opportunity for the public to shape the state's emerging Rocky Habitat Management Strategy by proposing special levels of protection for key rocky intertidal and offshore areas. Between now and December, individuals, groups,...Read more
May 3, 2020

CoastWatching Moves Online

CoastWatchers Dave and Diane Bilderback conducting a beached bird survey. The coronavirus crisis poses particular difficulties for a program like CoastWatch, which brings people together for educational events and projects on the shore, while encouraging volunteers to monitor a shoreline which is currently closed to many. But the program has now pivoted to an...Read more
February 21, 2020

Rockaway Beach Riprap Appeal Fails

The Tai Dang house in Rockaway Beach, showing the eroded dune where he is placing the riprap.\Photo by Phillip Johnson. Oregon Shores has lost its final, last-ditch stand in a years-long struggle to prevent the riprapping of a structure in Rockaway Beach that never should have been built. The owner was allowed last year to install temporary riprap; his...Read more
August 14, 2019

New Environmental Steward Program Boosts CoastWatching

Marine debris surveying will be one way of earning a certificate.\Photo by Jesse Jones. Oregon Shores and CoastWatch announce a new partnership with Clatsop Community College, the Environmental Steward Certificate program. The goals of the new initiative are to boost the skills of CoastWatchers and provide mile adopters with the opportunity to take classes and...Read more
The threatened structure is in center of photo, just south of the creek.\Photo courtesy of DLCD.
August 27, 2018

Rockaway Riprap Case Bounces Back from Court

The threatened structure is in center of photo, just south of the creek.\Photo courtesy of DLCD. The hearing that will be held in Rockaway on Wednesday, Sept. 5, on property owner Tai Dang’s effort to riprap his threatened house, is the latest round in a long battle that has taken place over several years. The joint hearing by the city council and planning...Read more
View from the Port Orford dock.\Photo courtesy of ODFW.
August 7, 2018

Big Weekend in Port Orford Coming Up

View from the Port Orford dock.\Photo courtesy of ODFW. One of CoastWatch’s goals for 2018 is to bolster our citizen science projects on the south coast. Assisted by a grant from the Oregon Parks Foundation Fund that helps to cover travel and other costs, we are trying to give the southern coastal counties some special attention. The full weekend of activities...Read more