Mile 161 - Oregon Dunes NRA just north of Siltcoos River - February 6, 2018

Report Details

It was a beautiful winter day, with sun and gentle breezes from the northwest. 46 degrees when we arrived and an empty beach for the first hour. People began arriving around 11:00. It was 59 degrees when we left shortly after Noon with visitors enjoying the day beachcombing and dog-walking, among a few other activities as noted in the report.

Conditions

Temperature: 46 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 2.0 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 8. Number of dogs: 7. Walking or running: 6. Other Activities: 1 - using a drone; 1 - riding a "one-wheel" in the parking area while wife/partner walked on beach.. When we arrived, there were no people at the area. When we left, there were people on the beach, along the river and in the parking area. No activities of concern. We noted that vehicles on the beach (none while we were there, but we saw tire tracks) had remained in the designated area for riders (turning around at the boundary and not going outside of the designated area). Some dogs were on leash and others were off. Off-leash does were not harassing birds and appeared to be under voice control.

Concerns

Litter

Apparent violations: None; There was a low amount of litter and plastic along the beach, but lots of small plastic and plastic water/juice bottle tops up along Siltcoos River. We picked up and removed 5 plastic water bottles. There was a large plastic trash can on the beach that was too heavy (with wet sand) for us to remove. We dragged it up off the tide line and the location was reported to USFS to have their beach patrol vehicle remove it..

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 6.

Notable Wildlife

1 Raven; 2 Killdeer along river; flock of approx. 50 gulls at mouth of river. Possible feral cat tracks near parking area wetland. Photos and location will be sent to USFS via email.

Beached Birds

N/A

Driftline Content

Small rocks, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.). Picked up a five water bottles and there was a plastic trash can (moved off tide line and reported to USFS for pick up). Most notable was the lack of plastic (even micro plastic) along the driftline (both the upper and lower driftlines). There was noticeable micro plastic and plastic water bottle lids in the drift line up by the river, tho.

Natural Changes

Noticed that a large amount of driftwood had washed up and much of it had collected where a tributary goes under the road (where it then empties from a wetland into the Siltcoos River).

Actions & Comments

As mentioned, notified USFS to pick up the plastic trash can that we were unable to haul away. Notification was made via email along with the location of the item in relation to identifiable markers. We took photos of possible feral cat tracks near the wetland (near parking area) and will email to the USFS biologist to alert them.