Coastal Conservation News Archive

A complete archive of our past news articles, beginning in Fall 2016; older articles from our previous website are available in the historical archive

Photo of water quality warning sign.

Beach Monitoring Program Announces Impending Changes

The Oregon Beach Monitoring Program (OMRP) is beginning a formal process to adopt a new “beach action value” (BAV) that would be used beginning in the 2017 monitoring season. The BAV is used to determine when public health advisories should be issued for beaches. Up till now, the threshold for advisories has been 158 MPN. (This stands for “most probable number,” and for beach water quality...Read more
Photo of coastline at Cape Perpetua.

Video of Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve Released

The Oregon Marine Reserves Partnership (OMRP) has released the second in its series of videos on Oregon’s new marine reserves. Featuring Paul Engelmeyer of the Audubon Society, the video features panoramic shots of Cape Perpetua and information about the unique habitats and creatures found there, from Sea Lion Caves (the largest sea cave in the Americas) to the marbeled murrelet, which feeds in...Read more
Photo of purple tide.

Shore Watchers Tracking Purple Tides

Numerous reports have been coming in concerning “purple water” or “a gelatinous purple mass” in the water. There have been sightings at Roads End, Neskowin and elsewhere (for example, see the latest mile report on Mile 253). We’re trying to help track this and discover what it is. CoastWatchers spotting anything purplish on the water or beach are asked to file a Dispatch or mile report if at all...Read more
Pistol River meets the sea. Photo by Mureen Walker.

Public Meetings Will Consider Mineral Withdrawal for South Coast Rivers

The headwaters of Hunter Creek, the North Fork of the Pistol River, the headwaters of the Illinois River and the headwaters of the North Fork of the Smith River (rising in Oregon and reaching the coast in California) are all threatened by proposals to conduct nickel mining on Forest Service lands. In 2014, Oregon Shores joined many south coast groups and individual activists in unsuccessfully...Read more
Opponents rally against LNG.

Oregon Shores Join Allies in Denouncing FERC Report

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) this week issued a draft environmental review for the proposed Oregon LNG terminal (to be located at Warrenton) and pipeline that, unsurprisingly, failed to adequately address the likely impacts to public health and safety, endangered salmon, or the Columbia estuary habitat. Oregon Shores joined Columbia Riverkeeper and many other allies fighting...Read more
Volunteers setting up marine debris survey site.

Join CoastWatch for Upcoming Citizen Science Activities

Volunteers are always needed for CoastWatch’s suite of citizen science surveys. Several opportunities are coming up to join one of these regular expeditions. You are welcome to come along just to help out on the occasion and learn about citizen science. You are also invited to join the team, or to get involved later at another location. For those in the Coos County area, the team handling our...Read more
Sand Lake, spit shoreline, by Jim Hauge

Planning Gets Underway for New State Park at Sand Lake

One of our Land Use Program’s proudest moments came on the day last year when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) completed purchase of the “Beltz Farm” property which occupies the spit enclosing the Sand Lake estuary just north of Tierra del Mar. Oregon Shores' only role in acquiring the land for the public was to advocate for it. A decade ago, however, the property might have been...Read more
The wreck of the Peter Iredale. Photo by H. Kroggins.

Photos Shared with Oregon Shores Help Us Illustrate Our Work

As you've likely noticed if you visit this website regularly, Oregon Shores uses numerous photographs of the shoreline and of the entire coastal region. We illustrate articles on this website, and we also use photos in newsletters and e-bulletins and in various other publications, such as CoastWatch handouts. We’re constantly searching for new images of the coast. Some we seek for their sheer...Read more