Report Details

It was a beautiful sunny day. Not a lot of people walking due to high tide timing. There was very little sand dune build up. The beach was mostly flat. There was one flock of gulls near the outflow of Buckley Creek. The creek has dug a deep trench and a smaller creek before Buckley has cut a trench out of the foredune bank through the vegetation. There was a moderate NW wind. There was a little trash, but not any large pieces, except for a wooden skid. I notified the ranger about the skid and gave him the gps location. 

Conditions

Temperature: 47 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 6.2 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 7. Number of dogs: 3. Walking or running: 7. Other Activities: evidence of bike riding.

Notable Wildlife

Large flock of mixed gulls at the mouth of Buckley Creek. Estimate 100+, mature and immature.

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.). A wooden skid. I let the park ranger know and sent him the GPS location.

Natural Changes

Major cracks appearing in bluffs, Erosion of vegetated foredune, Visible retreat of solid bluff, Evidence of wave overtopping. Buckley Creek has dug deeply into the beach and the wave activity has been going all the way to the foredunes. The Foredunes are collapsing in places.

Report Images

Mile 203 Beach Stone Wrack and view of flat beach
Mile 203 looking toward Alsea Bay
Mile 203 vegetation in Wrack
Mile 203 66C access logs
Mile 203 rocks and shell pieces
Mile 203 gulls at Buckley Creek outlet to ocean
Mile 203 Skid - I let Ranger know GPS location
Mile 203 trash - includes Covid 19 mask
Mile 203 trash - includes Covid 19 mask
Mile 203 trash - includes Covid 19 mask
Buckley Creek area - bank erosion
Mile 203 natural log colorful beauty

Report Images

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All Mile 203 Reports

Showing 8 of 81 reports

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 203

Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake

May 27, 2024

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

April 23, 2024

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

January 23, 2024

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

January 19, 2024

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

September 30, 2023

The storms and rain caused some beach washout from the ocean and from the land.

JLcoasties

Mile 203

Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake

June 21, 2023

The dunes have reappeared due to the spring winds.

JLcoasties

Mile 203

Driftwood Beach south, Hidden Lake

April 12, 2023

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

January 28, 2023

It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Nancy Thomas