Coastal Conservation News Archive

A complete archive of our past news articles, beginning in Fall 2016; older articles from our previous website are available in the historical archive

June 8, 2020

A Message from the Board and Staff of Oregon Shores

We want to acknowledge this historic time of uprising in demand for racial justice by stating that the staff and board of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition join all concerned Americans in outrage at our nation’s continued systemic racism, and in sorrow over the violent and senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people at the hands of the police. Each...Read more
May 18, 2020

Special Volunteer Needed for King Tides Project

king_tidefs_logo.png CoastWatch collaborates with the state’s Coastal Management Program on the King Tides Project every year. Through this project, volunteer photographers document that highest tides of the year. We have a trove of photographs, growing in value every year, as we develop an ever-more-detailed portrait of the coast’s vulnerability to...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 begin 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
Volunteers removing Scotch Broom in the Oregon Dunes.\Photo by Dina Pavlis.
May 2, 2020

Scotch Broom Stalkers Needed in May

dunes_volunteers_removing_scotch_broom_dina_pavlis.jpg As invasive plants on the Oregon coast go, Scotch Broom is second only to European beachgrass in the extent to which it has occupied and reshaped shoreline, bluff, and dune habitats. The Western Invasives Network has declared a Great Scotch Broom Census, to take place...Read more
May 1, 2020

Oregon Shores Battles Jordan Cove on Local Fronts

Jordan Cove (top of photo) and the North Spit.\Photo by Alex Derr. The struggle to prevent development of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility on Coos Bay’s North Spit, to which Oregon Shores is deeply committed, is fought on many fronts: national, state, and local. We have been deeply engaged for more than a decade in the effort to prevent the Jordan...Read more
April 27, 2020

Public Comment on Rocky Habitat Plan Due

tidepool_cape_perpetua_briton_ogden_small.jpg The public has one more chance to offer comments on Oregon’s newly emerging Rocky Habitat Management Strategy. After several years of work—in which Oregon Shores has participated actively—an all-but-final draft is being considered. The Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC) is expected to...Read more
March 29, 2020

Coast Bike Route Up for Discussion

biking_coast_odot.jpg The Oregon Coast Bike Route (OCBR) exists in concept. It runs 370 miles the length of the state and is traveled by an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 riders annually. It was designated in the 1980s. But it is essentially Highway 101. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) began a planning effort for the OCBR in 2018. With the...Read more
Snowy Plover.\Photo by Mick Thompson
March 27, 2020

Snowy Plover Patrol Training Now Online

Snowy Plover.\Photo by Mick Thompson The nesting season for the endangered Western Snowy Plover is due to begin in Oregon, and in an ordinary year the Snowy Plover Patrol would be about to start monitoring sites on the north coast again. In this unique year, though, with coronavirus precautions in place, the in-person training sessions (which had been scheduled...Read more