 Editor's Note: Bonnie Henderson, as Douglas County's Assistant Reports Coordinator (Summaries), prepares a "Quarter Summary Report", which she emails to each Douglas County CoastWatcher. We've compiled this page to make comparison between quarters easy. (Bonnie Henderson, Mile 157 — (541) 485-6311 in Eugene)
 Mile 156 looking south. Photo by Dick Mason, 10/8/2010.
Greetings, Douglas County CoastWatchers —
Here are the summaries of the Douglas County reports filed online in the fall quarter; thank you for visiting your mile and filing a report and sharing your observations with nearby mile adopters. No reports filed yet for winter, two weeks into the season. Forecast (for what it’s worth) indicates we might get some brief breaks from rain over the next week. I’m just sayin’...
• Complete Fall 2010 report including Mile Report Summaries
Winter 2009/2010 — May 10, 2010
Douglas County CoastWatchers —
I stopped off at Mile 157 on my way home from the Coast Conference last Friday and Saturday and had a great walk through the dunes and on the beach: rhodies blooming like crazy, and smaller, quieter flowers throughout the dunes. This is my way of encouraging you not only to get out on your mile this Spring quarter but to file an electronic report that I can share with other Douglas County CoastWatchers. (Photo: Oregon Dunes day use area.)
So here are the winter quarter reports, including two that were technically in the spring (mine and Jack Long’s, two days after the spring equinox), giving us a total of four winter quarter reports (or seven, if you include Mike Helms’ comments on Miles 148, 149 and 150!)
• Complete Winter 2009/2010 report including Mile Report Summaries
 Lloyd Maxfield shot this photo of brown pelicans during his visit to Mile 148 on October 11. He also saw double-crested cormorants, sanderlings, and other birds and things of interest.
Greetings, Douglas County CoastWatchers —
Three of us turned in reports for Fall 2009; one each month. Here they are, south to north and in chronological order; may they inspire you to visit your mile soon (and turn in an electronic report!) MILE 148 Sun, Oct 11, 2009
Lots of birds but few humans on this remote stretch of beach. Crab boat just offshore; large ship at anchor perhaps 10 miles offshore, possibly dumping ballast. There's a bird radar installation on foredune just south of Sparrow Park Road access on Mile 151. —L Maxfield
MILE 154 Sat, Nov 21, 2009
Started out near mid-day from the end of Sparrow Park road and walked more than a mile to my assigned beach. Some human activity near the end of the road, but none on my beach. Surf still rough from recent storms, but surprisingly little storm debris on my beach. Very little material in driftline. Saw no live birds, one dead one. Beach was fairly clean, but picked up garbage bag full of trash. Sand buildup along the foredune since my last visit, except for the extreme north end near the Tahkenitch Creek outlet. No vehicle tracks on my beach. —covelake
MILE 157 Tue, Dec 1, 2009
A gorgeous day, the Pacific very pacific. Perfect for opening day of crab season; at one point I could see 8 fishing boats from my mile. Beach quite clean; some debris (bits of bleached nylon rope, a few plastic and glass bottles, etc.) well above last high tide. No glass (or plastic) floats; one lightbulb. On the wet sand, razor clam shells mostly, a few kelp clumps. Very little bird activity; not even gulls. Several big, well-weathered stumps. Inland, heard lots of birds in the trees; possibly kinglets, definitely several flickers. A heavenly day. I will add a couple of photos in a bit. —bzenderson  On the Umpqua Dunes trail from Mile 139
Bonnie Henderson, Co-Coordinator, Douglas County CoastWatch (541-731-9195, bzenderson@yahoo.com)
• Complete Fall 2009 report including Mile Report Summaries
 Sanderlings in breeding plumage, Mile 147, May 17, 2009
Greetings, Douglas County CoastWatchers —
Five of us posted online reports for the Summer quarter. Yes, we have a pretty inactive group of CoastWatchers! If you know folks who might like to get involved, please encourage them to inquire!
• Complete Summer 2009 report including Mile Report Summaries
 Sand build-up in front of foredune, Mile 153, 6/18/09, -Bebdhm
Here are your spring quarter Douglas County summaries, for your reading pleasure; go online (http://OregonShores.org) to read more details and see more pictures. I’m impressed by the whale-watching two CoastWatchers reported in June. Has the damage to Tahkenitch Creek Trail near the creek mouth (reported last fall by someone) been repaired?
 Eel dropped by an Osprey, Mile 147, 6/18/09, -Lyndell
I just finished a long backpack on the Oregon Coast and had the great pleasure of walking the entire Douglas County coastline. I had never been down to the tip of the Umpqua’s North Spit before; I ran into some folks from OSU mapping the bathymetry of the near-shore seafloor just south of Sparrow Creek Road (Mile 151, I believe) as part of a wave energy project. I hadn’t realized ATVs weren’t allowed on the beach south of the jetty (in the dunes, yes, but not on the beach) until south of Tenmile Creek, so I had a nice, lonely walk there. We have some lovely stretches of beach (plus a river, one large creek, and a beautiful lighthouse) under our watch.
A quick look at the online report histories, and it looks like every mile has someone who has submitted at least one online report in the past, if not this past quarter, except three: Miles 142, 143, and 144, at the south end of our stretch. I see that there are three adopters for each of those miles, so I hope someone will get active and not only visit but report on his/her mile next quarter! Reports that are submitted by the autumn equinox, September 22, will be included in the summer quarter summary.
• Complete Second Quarter 2009 report including Mile Report Summaries
 Lightbulb tide, 1/11/2009. Photo by Bonnie Henderson
Greetings, fellow Douglas County CoastWatchers —
I’ve volunteered (been volunteered??) to start sharing quarterly reports among all those with a CoastWatch mile in Douglas County. We are the smallest CoastWatch county group—just 17 miles in (or straddling) Douglas County. But our group numbers 43 people, due to multiple adopters on some miles.
Fun Facts about CoastWatch in Douglas County
Most popular mile:
Mile 152, north from Sparrow Park Road (five adopters)
Least-adopted (one each) Douglas miles:
Mile 146 (mouth of the Umpqua)
Mile 151 (south from Sparrow Park Road)
Mile 153 (west of Threemile Lake—a long hike in)
Mile 157 (west of Oregon Dunes Overlook)
Mile 158 (home of the elusive Tahkenitch dragon)
Shortest commute to her mile: looks like about 6 miles (from Gardiner)
Longest commute to her mile: about 2,417 miles (from Lansing, Mich.)
I hope these quarterly reports spur you to visit your mile regularly and to turn in reports. I also hope they’ll encourage you to add details to your summary, which makes more interesting reading for the rest of us. At this point I only have access to those reports that are filed online. If you haven’t begun using that online tool (at www.oregonshores.org), I urge you to try it. Webmaster Lloyd Maxfield has made it really easy. And he’s built a Web site I, at least, find really informative and entertaining to explore. (I found the above Fun Facts, including photographic evidence of the dragon, by exploring around the site.)
Spring quarter ends with the summer solstice on June 21. I plan to assemble and send the spring quarterly report in early July. I hope you get a chance to visit your mile before the solstice and report in shortly thereafter!
• Complete First Quarter 2009 report including Mile Report Summaries
|