Mile 297 Report
Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
May 25, 2014
It was Memorial Day weekend, and Portland had just had a emergency alert to avoid drinking the water.
Report Details
It was Memorial Day weekend, and Portland had just had a emergency alert to avoid drinking the water. As a consequence the beach was packed with people walking and horse-back riding, 40 in all, with 16 horses and 6 dogs. It was not warm, and threatening rain, which meant no one was sitting or playing in the surf. The beach was mostly clean although someone had left a bag above the surf line containing many glass bottles. The bottles had been in the water a long time but there were no indications they were from Japan. There were few live birds around, and no carcasses. This mile is part of the snowy plover management area on the Nehalem spit. There is a sign, and a tape across the dry sand area at the north end of the area, but otherwise someone visiting the beach might not know of the restriction. The purpose of designating the area this year is to see if getting people to keep their dogs on a leash would encourage plovers to nest here as they had historically. However, the horses exiting across the area, and human footprints along the dune might indicate conditions that would not be favorable for nesting.
Conditions
Temperature: 57 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW.
Human Activities
Number of people: 40. Number of dogs: 6. Walking or running: 25. Other Activities: Riding horses 15. 13 horses and riders were from the horse camp in the park. They exited the beach through the area designated as a snowy plover management area. The Parks Department indicated that this year the designation is mainly to keep dogs on leash to see if any plovers use the area for nesting. However, that restriction does not seem sufficient. In addition to the horses tramping through, there were human footprints along the dunes despite the sign and tape at the north end.
Concerns
People/dogs/vehicles in closure areas
Vehicles
Notable Wildlife
Last month three black-bellied plovers were spotted working the waterline. Photo attached.
Driftline Content
Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea).
Report Images
All Mile 297 Reports
Mile 297
Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
The sky was mostly cloudy with some patches of fog and noticeable blobs of sea foam on wet sand.
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A nice bright day with a large group of birders from 30 cars looking for Snowy Plovers when I started but only 13 people walking or sitting on the beach on my way back.
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Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
This was a sunny, cold, blustery day with 8 people and 2 dogs walking or biking(1) on the extensive beach.
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Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
This was a sunny calm day with few people on the beach.
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Mile 297
Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
This was a nice day with clouds and little wind.
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Mile 297
Nehalem Beach, Nehalem Bay SP
This was a nice cloudy day with only 4 cars in the parking lot and four people on the beach, one with a dog.
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