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

Public Invited to Help Guide Beach Monitoring Program

Short Sand Beach in northern Tillamook County, one of the beaches proposed for monitoring.\Photo courtesy of ODFW. The Oregon Health Authority’s Beach Monitoring Program is the public’s means of learning whether the waters washing our beaches is polluted. All too often, the water quality testing provided by this program demonstrates that it is. As the program...Read more

Snowy Plover Nesting Season Underway

Snowy plover exclusion area.\Photo courtesy of USFWS. Oregon’s conservationists and resource agencies have been engaged in a decades-long effort to restore the state’s population of the Western Snowy Plover, an endangered shorebird that nests on Oregon beaches (the only shorebird that breeds here). We are now in the nesting season, the crucial period for...Read more

Work for a Foam-Free Oregon

Here's the foam we hope to ban.\Photo by John Chapman. Oregon Shores has joined other groups in supporting House Bill 2617, the Foam-Free Oregon bill. Expanded polystyrene, often known by its trademarked name, Styrofoam, is a form of foamed plastic commonly used for food containers and packaging. This disposable packaging is usually thrown away after a single...Read more

Environmental Steward Certificate Program Always Open

Ed Joyce (right) and Jesse Jones (center) at a training session for the marine debris survey, a project which would help participants qualify for the Environmental Steward Certificate.\Photo by Patricia Jensen. Oregon Shores and CoastWatch partners with Clatsop Community College (CCC) in sponsoring the Environmental Steward Certificate program, an innovative...Read more

King Tides Photo Contest Winners Announced

The past winter’s edition of the King Tides Project, the 11 th year of this annual citizen science effort, had a new feature. This time around, we partnered with the Oregon Coast Visitors Association to sponsor a photo contest. The goal of the King Tides project is to document the winter’s highest tides, to raise awareness of the impact of high water and storm surges on the coast at present,...Read more

State Parks Considers Beach Driving Ban

Vehicles and dory boats on the beach at Cape Kiwanda.\Photo by Sonja Peterson. Pandemic restrictions led to closed beach access points and prohibitions of driving on Oregon’s beaches. A lot of coastal residents and visiting beach-lovers appreciated the quiet beaches and want to keep them that way. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), aka State...Read more

Feds Uphold State’s Jordan Cove Denial

Proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal, artist's conception.\Image courtesy of Jordan Cove Energy Project. Oregon Shores has been fighting the effort to site an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal on Coos Bay’s North Spit for well over a decade. There have been many twists and turns to the saga. But the latest development is extremely important for...Read more

Major Land Use Victory Blocks Jordan Cove

Protest against Jordan Cove in North Bend.\Photo by Jody McCaffree. The Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) has awarded Oregon Shores and allies a significant, multi-part victory in our efforts to block the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal. In a decision handed down on Dec. 22, LUBA overturned Coos County’s permits for the Jordan Cove Energy Project’s...Read more

Oregon Shores Joins Defense of Endangered Species Act

Western Snowy Plovers at South Beach.\Photo by Molly Sultany. Oregon Shores joined 45 other ocean conservation groups recently in protesting an attempt by the Trump administration to cripple the Endangered Species Act, with new definitions of “habitat” which would severely limited the law’s effectiveness. To see our joint comment,...Read more

In Memoriam: Jack Broome

Jack Broome and Althea Pratt-Broome. We regret the passing, but celebrate the life, of one of Oregon Shores’ original activists and leaders. Jack Broome passed away in June at the age of 97. Jack was a prominent Oregon architect for decades. He is the “B” in Boora Architects, originally Broome, Oringdulph, O'Toole, Rudolf, and Associates, a major firm that...Read more