Mile 301 Report
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
March 7, 2026
Two of us spent several hours combing through the cobble for marine debris deposited over the winter tides.
Report Details
Two of us spent several hours combing through the cobble for marine debris deposited over the winter tides. The only other people were tourists exploring - some of whom pilfered through the piles of debris that we created as we walked the mile that we haul out on the return to our vehicle. The tourists took the "good" stuff - i.e. newer and intact buoy's. Sadly, they didn't take any nasty trash! We collected 5 full bags of debris, as much as we could carry. I forgot to take a final picture of the debris. Derp.
Conditions
Temperature: 50 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Tide Level: 3.0 feet.
Activities
Number of people: 10.
Other Activities: This area is mostly rocks on the north end of Neahkahnie. Folks are scrambling over the rocks & exploring an area that feels remote & exciting since it's more difficult to access. Those we saw passed us as we picked up trash & passed us again on their way back to the sandy area of the beach..
Concerns
Litter
Notable Wildlife
Saw only WEGU & PECO in the water.
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 2. The two carcasses we found were so decomposed it was impossible to tell the species.
Stranded Marine Mammals
Total stranded mammals: 1. Impossible to tell if it was a sea lion or a seal due to decomposition.
Wrackline Content
The sandy beginning of this mile had our first appearances of Velella Velella this year! See pic. Once we get to the cobbles, it is not so much a wrack line as a "sticky" corner of the coast where lots of debris washes up and gets caught.
Velella Velella on the wrack line
Velella & south end of mile 301 looking north to cobbles
Sticky cobblestones that collect debris
Decomposed marine mammal
Wrangling plastic debris
This truck is not pelagic
Debris sample
Natural vs. Unnatural
Report Images
Michelle Schwegmann
CoastWatcher
All Mile 301 Reports
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
Two of us spent several hours combing through the cobble for marine debris deposited over the winter tides.
Michelle Schwegmann
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
Three Coast Watch reporters removed 11 bags (one carload) of marine debris from the mile.
Michelle S
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
Mile 301 is mostly rocks at the very beginning of the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. We walk out onto these rocks to pick up all the marine debris and trash that wash up on them, as they're a "sticky" area of the coastline. - large plastic bin that was re-fashioned into a garbage bin of some sort, which we then used to haul out even more garbage - about 20 pounds of styrofoam, some whole floats and many parts of floats, coolers, etc. - a "homemade" float fashioned with a stick of bamboo and an old piece of styrofoam - the same marine oil metal bin that's been on the rocks since June 2024 - countless plastic water bottles, crab traps, plastic bags & other trash
Michelle Schwegmann
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
North Coast Land Conservancy's marine program led a registered BioBlitz outing at Cape Falcon Marine Reserve on Thursday August 22nd from 8-10 am.
Angela Whitlock
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
Reporting this dispatch because today the Beach Ranger Brian Dodge was able to retrieve the veal crate that I first reported on February 6, 2024! There was a deceased harbor porpoise / dolphin near the tide line and Brian Dodge was able to retrieve that, too. This is also an area where large amounts of debris wash up and "sticks" on the rocks.
Michelle Schwegmann
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
The goal of this survey was to conduct our first NOAA Marine Debris survey after our CoastWatch training last month.
sultanym
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
The tide was quite low so I walked up on the rocks at the northern most end of Neahkahnie Beach. This area is always full of large marine debris from fishing boats and whatever washes in.
Michelle Schwegmann
Mile 301
Neahkahnie Beach north, Oswald West SP
December 12 was a surprisingly warm day!
Michelle Schwegmann