August 2, 2023

Temperature: 61 F. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: -2.0 feet.

Number of people: 241. Number of dogs: 52. Walking or running: 45. Playing in surf: 3. Playing in sand: 8. Photography: 6. Tidepooling: 179. People climbing rocks in spite of posted signage designating that it is illegal. Adults and children trampling live marine life, pulling sea stars and mussels and all types of marine life off rocks, walking in tidepools. One child stabbing shovel in tidepools.

Climbing bluffs/seastacks

Apparent violations: 4 adults climbing rocks in Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. As they returned, they stepped on sea stars, sea anemones, barnacles and mussels, replete with noisy squishing sounds from the trampled animals that made nearby visitors cringe. One person said signage was not in place prior to him climbing rocks, even though he walked past the sign to climb, and the sign was in place more than an hour before he arrived..

Pelicans, common murres, cormorants, black oystercatchers, Harlequin ducks. Immature loon seen at Indian Beach on 7/31/23.

Seaweeds and seagrass. Quite a bit of kelp and seaweed washed up on the beach.

Sunny warm day with -2.0 tides, lots of visitors at Ecola Point, most of them tidepooling. People climbing rocks in spite of posted signage designating that it is illegal. As they returned, they stepped on sea stars, sea anemones, barnacles and mussels, replete with noisy squishing sounds from the trampled animals that made watching visitors cringe. One person said signage was not in place prior to him climbing rocks, even though he walked past the sign to climb, and the sign was in place more than an hour before he arrived. Adults and children trampling live marine life, pulling sea stars and mussels and all types of marine life off rocks, walking in tidepools. One child stabbing shovel in tidepools.