Mile 203 Report
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
August 1, 2021
Large number of people on the beach today.
Report Details
Large number of people on the beach today. The dunes are growing and the wind has pushed back a lot of the sand areas that were lost in the storms or last winter.
Conditions
Temperature: 59 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 3.5 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 49. Number of dogs: 8. Walking or running: 37. Sitting: 6. Other Activities: Kite flying - 3, Bicycle - 3. No Concerns
Concerns
Litter
Apparent violations: There was a small amount of debris left by people on the beach..Dead Fish or Invertebrates
Found 1 Mermaid's Purse (skate egg case). It was fairly dried out.
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). Found ribbons of micro plastics. Also picked up 30 to 40 pieces of plastic larger than 7 or 8 mm. For the most part the rack line was normal for mile 203.
New Development
No concerns
Man-made Modifications
No concerns.
Natural Changes
The dunes on the north half of mile 203 have grown in the last month. On the north half of mile 203 the dunes have doubled in size and are extending further south on the beach from the north edge of mile 203. On the south end of mile 203 the dunes have developed blown out areas exposing old branches and natural debris. The south half of the mile did not lose big areas of sand in the storms of last winter as the north half did. The loss of the dunes on the north half seemed to remove areas for bird nesting that were uses in the past.
Actions & Comments
Some of the sand has been sculptured by the wind and it is rather beautiful.
Dune formation in areas lost in the storms last winter
Dune formation in areas lost to the storms of last winter
The wind has sculptures some sand areas into amazing shapes.
Micro plastic ribbon on mile 203
Report Images
JLcoasties
CoastWatcher
All Mile 203 Reports
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
Today I walked beach accesses 67A (Mile 203, Sandpiper Beach), 67C (Mile 203 Bayshore/Sandpiper), and 67 (Mile 202, Bayshore Beach).
Jon French
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
We found 7 lbs 12 oz of marine and ocean debris on the beaches in the wrackline area. The north and south ends of mile 203 show evidence of substantial wave erosion of the dunes.
Jeff Hildreth
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
The beach has had substantial washing away of old dunes and washing up of beach grass into the dunes. There were 45 bird carcasses of we believe are Cassin's auklets.
Jeff Hildreth
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
Today I and my two CoastWatch partners conducted a NOAA Marine Debris survey on our 100 meter survey site at Sandpiper Beach, Mile 203. On reaching our marine debris survey site, we saw a lot of Cassin's Auklet carcasses, which COASST calls CAAU, all high up on the beach among the beach vegetation and washed-in sea grass, many carcasses partially covered by sand or vegetation. After we completed our debris survey, I returned to our survey site and began collecting CAAU carcasses in groups of 9, as COASST recommends, ultimately collecting 40 carcasses in 4 full and 1 partial grouping. Below is a link to our Sandpiper Beach NOAA debris survey site where most CAAUs were found, reached by a boardwalk that enters the beach midway in the debris survey site. COASST defines a "wreck" as more than 20 beached individuals of one species per kilometer, and a "MME" (Massive Mortality Event) as a spike of up to hundreds of carcasses per kilometer. We also found a beached Northern Fulmar and what is I believe was either a female Gadwall or White-winged Scoter, which I took note of but didn't measure or report on to COASST. I submitted documentation with photos of the CAAU beaching event to COASST, and COASST responded that they had received reports of CAAU beachings from Southern Oregon sites like Coquille Point and Cape Blanco but also as far north as Manzanita. All this sounds very dry, but it was really sad to see and handle all these beautiful little dead birds and wonder if this is completely natural or if climate change, and perhaps a decline of prey species making these birds more vulnerable, factors into these mortality events. https://mdmap.
Jon French
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
The storms and rain caused some beach washout from the ocean and from the land.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
The dunes have reappeared due to the spring winds.
JLcoasties
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
Last year at this time, Jesse Jones helped us set up a 100 meter NOAA marine debris survey site on Mile 204, which we later moved to Sandpiper Beach on Mile 203.
Jon French
Mile 203
Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake
It was a beautiful day for a walk.
Nancy Thomas