Mile 224 - Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek - 01/19/2025 | Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition

Report Details

A dynamic beach observed today, notes re: features seen & photographed noted previously. I rarely see birds on this beach, today I saw only gulls. Notable was how far offshore waves seemed to be breaking as well as active surf/a lot of forth. Anywhere the beach slope was flat, the high tide seemed to have reached (and would reach again) the base of the beach bluffs & erode those bluffs. I didn't walk the entire mile, as I was concerned about being cut off by the incoming tide & get stuck at Beverly Beach (south end of the mile) but I did walk far enough to view what I could see of a deteriorating culvert that probably goes under highway 101. I could see very little because a mass of drift logs were sitting in front of it & on the rocks that go from the culvert to the beach. Water still flows through the culvert & down the beach to the ocean. The culvert sits back behind the usual bluff line, a kind of slot in the bluff. There was erosion on either side of the slot (from the bluff on either side). Also a lot of "garnet sands" or particles of chromite, magnetite, probably a few other mafic minerals plus two types of garnets, all typically seen in the winter. At one time, people panned for gold on some of OR's beaches and 10 or more years ago I saw 5 people (including older children, probably a family) panning for gold on this mile, although southern OR beaches generally thought to be better prospects. .https://accuratepmr.com/blog/otter-rock-gold-prospecting-oregon-coasts-beaches-for-gold/

Conditions

Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light.

Human Activities

Number of people: 19. Number of dogs: 2. Surfing: 8. Other Activities: 2 people sitting. 4 children playing. The rest were walking or standing & look at the ocean and then walking a little. The number of people fluctuated, there were fewer people overall and most of the surfers had left the water & the beach by the time I left the beach itself at 2:53 pm. Saw no actively destructive activities.

Driftline Content

I didn't see much of a wrack line at all, I think because the high tides have been so high, mostly I saw rocks.

Natural Changes

Landslides/major boulder falls, Newly exposed roots/trees falling, Visible retreat of solid bluff. It's clearly been a dynamic winter so far on this mile, I saw substantial erosion, trees tipping so far over they seemed like they'd fall over & onto the beach soon, large clumps of salal w/roots still in soil, sitting on the beach, clearly having slid from somewhere on the bluff behind (landward) the small masses. Some of the root masses & exposures of what looked like clay or silt stone I saw exposed today, will, I think, will be covered up as sand is transported onto the beach during the spring/summer., and some of the sand sized material/sediment I saw exposed today will be washed onto the beach & offshore by rain & the tides.

malachite

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