Mile 247 Report
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
August 13, 2022
Today was a CoastWatch orientation walk with CoastWatch Program Manager, staff from Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (who adopted this mile) and nearby neighbors.
Report Details
Today was a CoastWatch orientation walk with CoastWatch Program Manager, staff from Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (who adopted this mile) and nearby neighbors. A negative tide made for great intertidal viewing and access to the beach beyond the keyhole. There were dozens of healthy ochre sea stars, chitons, blue mussels, sponge, anemone and so much more. Gorgeous healthy habitat. We found a small amount of trash including an abandoned or discarded crab trap, which we took with us. Three beached birds, not identified, were found. We spent about 3 hours and the temperature increased about 10 degrees in that time. We reached this beach by rowing across the Salmon River. We also set up a 100 meter marine debris survey site, to be monitored by volunteers at Sitka.
Conditions
Temperature: 62 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Tide Level: -1.4 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 16. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 9. Tidepooling: 4. Kayaking: 8. Fishing: 2.
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 2. unknown
Driftline Content
Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.).
Yellow dorid nudibranch
North entrance of cave
Tire tracks in sand looking north
Report Images
jessejones
CoastWatcher
All Mile 247 Reports
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
A survey team of Sitka Center staff and local volunteers (GraySea, Jake, Nancy, Laurie and Bill) accessed the sand spit via kayak and canoe. The survey team accessed the south side of the 'keyhole' area in the rocky intertidal habitat (southernmost portion of Mile 247) and conducted a 15 minute timed count of ochre sea stars to submit to the MARINe program.
Sitka Team and Community Members
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
A survey team of Sitka Center staff and local volunteers (Chris, Nancy, Lilly and Melissa) accessed the sand spit via kayak and canoe.
Sitka Center Team and Community Members
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
Trash and dead seal
Joan Mahler
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
A survey team of two Sitka Center team members, Jake and Nancy, accessed Mile 247 - Salmon River Spit by crossing the Salmon River Estuary via kayak and paddleboard. During this survey, the survey team was able to access the inner area of the rocky habitat and do a 15 minute timed sea star count in the two sea star monitoring sites. As the survey team walked back north noteable debris included a large tangle of ships rope, noteable wrack line content included a high concentration of giant mole crab casings/moults and small pieces of hard plastics.
Nancy Newman
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
Survey participants accessed Mile 247 - Salmon River spit via kayaking/paddle boarding across the Salmon River Estuary.
Mile 247 - Salmon River Spit
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
Sitka Center team member Nancy and Sitka Center artists in residence Evan, Rose, Katrina, Tim, Maria and M accessed the site via kayak.
Nancy Newman
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
Sitka Team members and Sitka Center artists in residence accessed Mile 247 via kayak, walked south taking observations of the beach mile and met Camp Westwind Team members near Mile 247's rocky habitat.
Nancy Newman
Mile 247
South Spit Salmon River, Tillamook/Lincoln county line
This CoastWatch survey was conducted by Sitka Team member Nancy and 4 members of the Sitka Center 2024 resident cohort: Thomas, Erin, Christian and Fran.
Nancy Newman