June 16, 2010

Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: -1.4 feet.

Number of people: 8. Fishing: 3. Other Activities: clamming. People on the beach today were mostly men in their 60s or 70s. One guy, watching his 50ish son dig sandworms for bait told him if he dug up a mermaid it belonged to him, the older man, because, at his age,75, the top half was all he could handle. Another guy was digging razor clams and showed me about 8 that he'd dug up. These activities were right near the jetty. The others were wandering around through the driftwood looking for beach booty.

I saw a committee of about 6 vultures convening atop a sea lion carcass. The happiest among them was eating the sea lion's eye. The best parts always go first.

none

none

a few crabs, nautiluses, and clamshells, but nothing in numbers more than ordinary.

Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Small rocks, Wood pieces.

No development on miles 147 or 148. Nothing seems to change there, but of concern if farther north at the entrance to the beach off Sparrow Park Road where human encampment has made the place look like a homeless camp beneath one of Eugene's bridges. Toilet paper proliferates. It's pretty disgusting. I talked to a man who said he first came to that beach 64 years ago when he was eleven. He was pretty upset at the kind of litter and crap that he found at the entrance, suggested digging trenches across the road so the trailers couldn't get that far into the forest.