Mile 203 Report
February 17, 2021
The most noticible change was the retreat of the dunes toward the shore.
Report Details
The most noticible change was the retreat of the dunes toward the shore. The beach has become very flat and many of the dunes are gone or deeply cut. The rack line rests on the remaining dunes and against the vegetated banks. The debris has also collected against these banks. Plastics, ropes, 2 buoys, and a large container of blue fluid that the Ranger, Doug Sestrich picked up for disposal. Thank you Doug!!
Conditions
Temperature: 43 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: 3.0 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 9. Number of dogs: 4. Walking or running: 9.
Concerns
Litter
Notable Wildlife
Saw one Western Gull and one unidentified bird. Took pictures and put in this report
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 1.
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.).
Natural Changes
Erosion of vegetated foredune, Visible retreat of solid bluff, Evidence of wave overtopping.
Report Images
All Mile 203 Reports
Mile 203
The beach has had substantial washing away of old dunes and washing up of beach grass into the dunes. There were 45 bird carcasses of we believe are Cassin's auklets.
Jeff Hildreth
Mile 203
Today I and my two CoastWatch partners conducted a NOAA Marine Debris survey on our 100 meter survey site at Sandpiper Beach, Mile 203. On reaching our marine debris survey site, we saw a lot of Cassin's Auklet carcasses, which COASST calls CAAU, all high up on the beach among the beach vegetation and washed-in sea grass, many carcasses partially covered by sand or vegetation. After we completed our debris survey, I returned to our survey site and began collecting CAAU carcasses in groups of 9, as COASST recommends, ultimately collecting 40 carcasses in 4 full and 1 partial grouping. Below is a link to our Sandpiper Beach NOAA debris survey site where most CAAUs were found, reached by a boardwalk that enters the beach midway in the debris survey site. COASST defines a "wreck" as more than 20 beached individuals of one species per kilometer, and a "MME" (Massive Mortality Event) as a spike of up to hundreds of carcasses per kilometer. We also found a beached Northern Fulmar and what is I believe was either a female Gadwall or White-winged Scoter, which I took note of but didn't measure or report on to COASST. I submitted documentation with photos of the CAAU beaching event to COASST, and COASST responded that they had received reports of CAAU beachings from Southern Oregon sites like Coquille Point and Cape Blanco but also as far north as Manzanita. All this sounds very dry, but it was really sad to see and handle all these beautiful little dead birds and wonder if this is completely natural or if climate change, and perhaps a decline of prey species making these birds more vulnerable, factors into these mortality events. https://mdmap.
Jon French
Mile 203
The storms and rain caused some beach washout from the ocean and from the land.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Last year at this time, Jesse Jones helped us set up a 100 meter NOAA marine debris survey site on Mile 204, which we later moved to Sandpiper Beach on Mile 203.
Jon French
Mile 203
After observing 8 snowy plovers on Mile 200 yesterday, I wanted to check up on the plovers on Mile 203.
KFunk