Mile 161 - Oregon Dunes NRA just north of Siltcoos River - July 3, 2018

Report Details

It was a beautiful morning on Siltcoos Beach. No noticeable changes since our report in February except for the appearance of roped off plover nesting areas...a large area to the south of the access point and a smaller area to the north. It was 54 degrees when we arrived at 8:15 AM at low tide with a light breeze coming from the NW. The beach was very clean with no observable plastic pellet debris (unlike last Feb. when we saw a lot of that). We did not walk all the way to the mouth of the river (south) because there were adult plovers feeding at the wrack line and we did not want to disturb them (especially since that area is normally busy with visitors, making it more difficult for them). The beach was empty when we arrived; when we left (10:00 AM), there were several people on the beach and some ATVs and a truck within the allowed riding area. Most walkers were staying on the wet sand near plover areas as requested by signage at the entrance. One person did appear to be east of the wet sand out on the spit, but we could not see well enough to know for sure if they were off wet sand or in the plover fenced area since the river does cause a bend there. One dog was on the beach off-leash near the plover areas, unfortunately. At first, the dog was north in the dog-restricted area; by the time we had gotten back to the access point, he had moved north of the access point in the dog-allowed area, but the dog was near a roped off area (north of the access point) where a pair of plovers have attempted to nest, but where they have been unsuccessful so far (per the plover educator we spoke to there) due to human/dog disturbance in that area. Dogs are allowed in that area (per signage).

Conditions

Temperature: 54 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 0.6 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 12. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 6. Sitting: 2. Other Activities: 3 - ATV riding. Overall and other than what was reported above, people stayed on wet sand near plover areas and ATVs remained within the allowed riding area.

Concerns

People/dogs/vehicles in closure areas

Apparent violations: We saw several people in plover area and 2 were not on dry sand as required. We saw one person with a dog. At first, he appeared to be in the plover area (closed to dogs)...by the time we reached him, he had moved north into the area where dogs are allowed. Do was off-leash and running near fenced plover area in that location where there has been a nest reported to have had several failures do to human disturbance (per plover educator we spoke to in parking lot). Not sure why this entire beach is not closed to dogs since there seems to be plovers nesting to the north of the access point (currently, according to signage there, dogs are allowed to the north of the access point). We had a pleasant conversation with the person (out of state visitor) about the plovers and how dogs scare parents of their nests putting eggs/chicks at risk..

Disturbances: Shorebirds moving in response to humans/dogs, Disturbance of nesting seabirds

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 5. ATVs/OHVs parking: 4. Cars/trucks on beach, allowed: 1. ATVs/OHVs on beach, allowed: 4.

Notable Wildlife

Osprey - 2, gulls, adult snowy plovers at wrack line - 3, juvenile bald eagle - 1, crow/raven - 2, sanderlings - 4 to 6

Driftline Content

Small rocks, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces. Lots of crab legs and dead crabs (not from molt) to south of access point. Some dead Emerita (mole crabs), but not a notable number. Found one crab molt to the north (photo included). Lots of shells in some locations along beach (very low tide). Most notable was lack of trash and plastic pellet debris (unlike our walk in Feb. when there was a high concentration of that on the beach here). Found one float and one piece of trash (a chewing tobacco tin). We removed both of these from the beach.