October 6, 2022

Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: N.

Number of people: 35. Number of dogs: 7. Walking or running: 14. Surfing: 14. Other Activities: 6 people cycling on beach, some on fat tired bicycles, one rider on what looked like a hybrid (wider tires then a 10 speed), 1 person lying down. Several children, one playing in the sand. This stupid report form refused to let me put a "1" into the "playing in the sand" box, so I have removed it, so I can submit this report. I tried several times, deleting the 1, retyping it, & every time the webform highlights the box in red and won't let me submit the report. Be nice if someone could fix that.. 2 of the cyclists had an out of control dog. All dogs were off lead, but other then the cyclists' dog, other dogs seemed under control (not chasing birds/other wildlife, staying w/their people). In the southern 1/3 of the mile, closer to Beverly Beach state park, it looked like the driftwood scattered along the base of the bluffs had become a playground/wood legoland for (I suspect) mostly people staying at BB state park. Lots of wood structures, some charred drift wood, lots of footprints, etc., above the summer high tide line. I did see some vehicle tracks, but believe they were made by the coast ranger, they were old tracks, near the drift logs above the reach of all but the highest of the summer high tides.

Disturbances: Shorebirds moving in response to humans/dogs

Total dead birds: 1. Looked like a black comorant. Had the webbed feet, but had no head, had been in driftline for awhile.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt). Very few plastic pieces, mostly sea grass, sea whips.

Drainage pipes. drainage pipe just north of BB state park now has graffiti on it & continues to rust & deteriorate, the water that drips from it in the winter/spring continues to accelerate erosion on the lower part of the beach bluff the water hits.

Landslides/major boulder falls, Newly exposed roots/trees falling, Visible retreat of solid bluff. There were half cones of sediment shed by or eroded from the bluffs, looked like they were 3'6" to 4' high, at the base of the bluffs. There's a culvert under 101 in the southern 1/2 or 1/3 of mile 224 that's been gradually falling apart. Took more photos today, looked there'd been a small soil slide on the southside of the culvert, another small slide or landmass movement on the north side. Fairly large pile of drift logs extending like a delta from the mouth of the culvert towards the ocean (but terminating pretty far away from the day's low tide line). The culvert is place in an "indentation" or slot in the bluff line, to the north, the bluff surface perpendicular to the culvert showed two slides of islands of salal, almost to beach level. It's been about 13 months since I walked this mile, there's been very noticeable erosion, small slides, trees finally losing hold on their position at the top of a bluff, etc., since September 2021. Some of it due to the almost normal rainfall we had last winter & spring, but some seems to have happened as a result of wind & gravity. There's no action I can take. Some years ago, I tried to alert ODOT to the deterioration of the culvert--which goes underneath highway 101, w/no success. Remainder of the erosion is mostly natural processes, except some of it might be accelerated by humans creating paths from unofficial parking areas and treading them all summer and perhaps more of the year.

No action to take, erosion appears natural.    Some of it might be accelerated by humans creating paths down from unofficial parking areas.    I arrived on the beach at 3:55 pm, left the beach at 4:55pm.  I estimated a maximum of 39 people on the beach while I was walking on the beach, but it might've been only 34-35.   People tend to move around.   For part of my walk, the fog was partly offshore, along other sections of the beach, the entire beach area was foggy.    Walking south there seemed to be minimal breeze/air movement, when I walked back (north) there was a breeze coming from the north.   No idea of the actual temperature, I had a light jacket on, became pretty warm as I walked.  Live birds seen: two crows, 5-7 gulls flying (disturbed by cyclists).    Low tide was around 4-4:30pm (estimate based on tide table showing tides at Yaquina Bay/HMSC).    It was a good day for a walk on the beach.