Report Details

It was Memorial Day weekend, and Portland had just had a emergency alert to avoid drinking the water. As a consequence the beach was packed with people walking and horse-back riding, 40 in all, with 16 horses and 6 dogs. It was not warm, and threatening rain, which meant no one was sitting or playing in the surf. The beach was mostly clean although someone had left a bag above the surf line containing many glass bottles. The bottles had been in the water a long time but there were no indications they were from Japan. There were few live birds around, and no carcasses. This mile is part of the snowy plover management area on the Nehalem spit. There is a sign, and a tape across the dry sand area at the north end of the area, but otherwise someone visiting the beach might not know of the restriction. The purpose of designating the area this year is to see if getting people to keep their dogs on a leash would encourage plovers to nest here as they had historically. However, the horses exiting across the area, and human footprints along the dune might indicate conditions that would not be favorable for nesting.

Conditions

Temperature: 57 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW.

Human Activities

Number of people: 40. Number of dogs: 6. Walking or running: 25. Other Activities: Riding horses 15. 13 horses and riders were from the horse camp in the park. They exited the beach through the area designated as a snowy plover management area. The Parks Department indicated that this year the designation is mainly to keep dogs on leash to see if any plovers use the area for nesting. However, that restriction does not seem sufficient. In addition to the horses tramping through, there were human footprints along the dunes despite the sign and tape at the north end.

Concerns

People/dogs/vehicles in closure areas

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 17.

Notable Wildlife

Last month three black-bellied plovers were spotted working the waterline. Photo attached.

Driftline Content

Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea).

Report Images

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All Mile 297 Reports

Showing 8 of 62 reports

Mile 297

October 22, 2023

The sky was mostly cloudy with some patches of fog and noticeable blobs of sea foam on wet sand.

Platypus Custard

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

September 4, 2023

A nice warm partly cloudy day with a large group enjoying the picnic area by the parking lot.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

June 6, 2023

It was a blustery sunny day with 3 horse back riders and one walker on the beach.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

March 18, 2023

A nice bright day with a large group of birders from 30 cars looking for Snowy Plovers when I started but only 13 people walking or sitting on the beach on my way back.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

December 15, 2022

This was a sunny, cold, blustery day with 8 people and 2 dogs walking or biking(1) on the extensive beach.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

September 6, 2022

This was a sunny calm day with few people on the beach.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

June 15, 2022

This was a nice day with clouds and little wind.

NehalemBay

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 297

March 8, 2022

This was a nice cloudy day with only 4 cars in the parking lot and four people on the beach, one with a dog.

NehalemBay