Over the last few months at Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), one of my focuses has been executing a pilot project in which we audit our permit records. The Ocean Shores team is responsible for regulating development on Oregon’s public beaches, and one major type of development that extends onto the ocean shore is shoreline protective structures. Riprap revetments are the most common type of shoreline protective structure along the Oregon coast and are commonly installed on developed lots that are experiencing erosion. As the main purpose of my role is to organize and geolocate our permit records, we are auditing our new record keeping system to get a sense as to whether we have captured all information during the transition.

The audit consisted of field visits to compare the present site conditions of ocean-fronting properties to our records for riprap revetments. Because patterns of dune erosion and accretion can be cyclical, there are areas of the coast where riprap was installed at a time of erosion but may be buried under the sand of a recently accreted dune. Because of this, if our records indicated the presence of riprap but nothing was visible, it was not assumed that our record was incorrect. In instances where a riprap revetment was visible, we measured it to compare to the conditions which were permitted. While many of the structures we observed were aligned with the permit records we have on file, the process did reveal a few instances in which site conditions did not align as expected with our permit records. Overall, it was a worthwhile exercise and really brought to life for me the revetments and site conditions that I’ve been reading about in our permit records.

The Ocean Shores team is also responsible for coordinating habitat protection and restoration for the threatened western snowy plover, which nests in dry sand areas of our beaches. One of the threats to their habitat has been the proliferation of European beach grass, which grows rapidly and leads to accretion of dunes. I have been lucky to tag along on a couple of trips to nesting areas with teammates who coordinate the restoration of snowy plover habitat. Restoration efforts can include the removal of shore pine and European beach grass and grading of the dunes. After the nesting season concluded in September, we took a trip out to Sitka Sedge State Natural Area to assess maintenance needs for the snowy plover habitat restoration area. Restoration efforts were initiated at this site in 2022, and it was time to assess follow-up tasks. Much of the area was still looking good, but it was determined that more removal of beach grass was needed to maintain conditions ideal for snowy plovers.

On separate visits to the beach at Sitka Sedge this summer, multiple snow plovers were spotted, indicating the habitat restoration is working! Unfortunately, it was a dismal year for nests that fledged across the entire Oregon coast.

Shoreline protection structure permitting and habitat restoration are just two of the many ways OPRD’s Ocean Shores team interfaces with our public beaches in an effort to protect recreational use and vital habitat.