Oregon Shores’ board and staff members are watching the COVID-19 pandemic carefully. We take very seriously the well-being of our staff and our hundreds of deeply valued volunteers and supporters.  No public events are being scheduled for the time being.  We urge our members—and everyone—to take all possible care when engaged in any activity, including conservation efforts.

While we are deeply concerned about the health of our human community, we continue to care about the well-being of the coastal environment as well. 

Our Land Use Program has not been affected and we remain as committed as ever to the battle to block the Jordan Cove LNG terminal proposed for Coos Bay’s North Spit.  All our land use appeals challenging the project are going forward.  We continue to work on other land use and regulatory issues.  Courts, agencies, and public decision-making bodies may have altered their procedures to account for social distancing, but they still operate, and our efforts in this field haven’t slackened.

CoastWatching continues and we have heard from mile adopters, freed however unwillingly from work requirements, who have more time to participate.  We are available via phone and email to assist volunteers and encourage marine debris, bird and other surveys to continue. It’s a beautiful time of year, and social distancing is easy to practice at the beach.

Our CoastWatch program is exploring virtual opportunities for shoreline education and trainings. Your feedback and suggestions on what would be most useful to you would be welcome.

For an unknown period of time, we’re in a new and strange world, but the Oregon coast abides, and our mission to preserve and protect it remains the same, even if some of the methods must change for a while.  We will do our level best to guard public health while maintaining vigilance and good stewardship for our coastal environment.  Once again, we would value your feedback and ideas about how we are doing and what else we could do.

Here’s wishing all of you good health and continued enjoyment of Oregon’s beaches and rocky shores.