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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018 ‘Washaway Beach’ tries to change its fate Residents, tribe fight against the rising water By AMY NILE Chinook Observer NORTH COVE, Wash. — There’s more than disaster porn to see here. David Cottrell, a fourth-gen- eration cranberry grower, is tired of storm chasers and TV news crews coming to North Cove for a look as thundering winter tides pull his neighbors’ homes into the Pacific. The small community north of Willapa Bay is determined not to go down with its nick- name — “Washaway Beach.” Unrelenting saltwater scours off more than 100 feet of the shore around North Cove most years. That makes it the fastest-eroding spot on the West Coast, according to the Washington Department of Ecology. Since last winter, cran- berry growers and neigh- bors have been experimenting with a different way to slow the encroaching ocean. While their work was put to its first test during the January storm and king tides that pounded the shore, state lawmakers ham- mered out a deal on the con- struction budget. It includes $650,000 for North Cove ero- sion control. The sea has already swal- lowed more than 50 homes, a school, a Coast Guard station, a lighthouse, a clam cannery, a grange hall, a post office and the town of North Cove itself. A gritty fight For decades, experts and officials have been telling peo- ple who live around the inlet south of Westport there was nothing they could do to pre- serve it or at least nothing they could afford, Cottrell said. But with homes teetering on the shoreline, the ocean eating the western edge of the street grid, and saltwater threaten- ing to cross State Route 105 and kill cranberry crops, peo- ple are pulling together to pro- tect North Cove — at least for awhile. “We’re rolling up our sleeves and doing it with what- ever we’ve got,” Cottrell, 59, said. “Now’s the time to do something. We know if we do nothing, we’re going to fail.” The chairman of the local drainage district and longtime Grayland Cranberry Grow- ers Association board mem- ber learned about a way to build a barrier to protect the shore that’s had some success in Oregon and California. He wondered if it would work for North Cove, so the diking dis- trict started testing it. Now, Cottrell, fellow farm- ers and neighbors are hauling bulldozer loads of cobble-size basalt to the beach and piling it with driftwood and other natu- ral materials along the shore- line. Unlike a seawall made of large boulders and concrete, a barrier with smaller stones moves and shakes as it absorbs the destructive force of the waves, more closely mimick- ing nature. It’s also cheaper and easier to build, Cottrell said. After decades of hearing North Cove was doomed, the community is rallying behind building the dune. “We’re all ‘can-do’ kind of people,” Cottrell said. Photos by Natalie St. John/Chinook Observer TOP, Homeowners have tried all kinds of tactics to slow the erosion in the northern Pacific County community of North Cove, known to many as ‘Washaway Beach.’ Despite their best efforts, homes continue to fall into the sea at an aston- ishing rate. LEFT, A beached boat and a bridge to nowhere overlook the remains of the elaborate driftwood and sal- vaged rope barrier that one late-coming resident began building in 2014. He hoped his makeshift berm would buy him 10 years. Less than three years later, much of the protected area is gone. RIGHT, Wearing his custom ‘Wash Away No More’ jacket, resident David Cottrell checked on properties at the water’s edge during an unusually high tide in January. The section of the barrier they’ve already put in place held up to the crashing king tides, turbulent sea and roaring winds last month. “It was a really good shakeup for our work,” Cot- trell said. “But we’re taking it one storm at a time. Right now, I’d love to get through the win- ter without losing anything.” After the mid-January storm relented, Cottrell found about 30 feet of shore had eroded away at the worst spots. That’s compared to roughly 150 feet during the last storm of similar strength a couple of winters ago. Although the barrier is keeping the water at bay, it’s not a long-term solution. “I describe it like putting one can of paint on a house — it looks better but it’s not done yet,” Cottrell said. Damming on the Columbia River and dredging in Willapa Bay contributed to erosion of the sand spit that supported the now underwater town of North Cove, in an area once known as Cape Shoalwater. The barrier dune that used to protect it has washed away. As the ocean erodes the shore, storm surges and flooding reach farther inland. Rising sea levels also threaten the area. Guillaume Mauger, a research scientist with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, said by the most opti- mistic projections, the ocean is expected to rise at least 6 inches by 2100. Although climate mod- els vary widely, many indicate it could go up more than 6 feet. “Even really small changes are going to be important,” Mauger said. A 6-inch rise in sea level could bring 100-year floods every few years, he said. And 6 inches during the next 50 years, is “pretty much guaranteed.” Mauger said Washington state is more likely to see a rise of about 2 feet by the centu- ry’s end. That’s three times the 4 to 8 inches it rose during the previous 100 years. And peo- ple aren’t thinking about that, he said. Scientists are just starting to scratch the surface of what’s to come in terms of poten- tial effects of climate change, Mauger said. He expects the costs of dealing with them will outweigh budgets by far. Scientists don’t need to agree on how much sea level is going to rise, Mauger said. They know it’s going up. He suggests people and local, state and federal governments ‘Now’s the time to do something. We know if we do nothing, we’re going to fail.’ David Cottrell Fourth-generation cranberry grower and North Cove resident Rising seas are likely to take over parts of Washington’s coast and cause more frequent and severe flooding in others. The saltwater could damage infrastructure such as waste- water treatment sites, storm drains and roads, contaminate groundwater and kill crops. Rising temperatures and ocean acidification threaten marine life, putting the food supply and the economy at risk. start planning for the change now. “We need to be looking at this through the climate lens,” he said. ‘Wash Away’ no more The Pacific Conservation District provided a $50,000 grant last year to build the first stretch of the barrier, Cottrell said. 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Please help by dropping off your empties or making a donation. Play, nap, and wake up softly in the company of a kindly little fur-person. Sponsored By 2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS ! Nine year old Tuxedo American Shorthair Hope floats Cottrell and others are hop- ing to expand their project and help find better ways to man- age coastal erosion. As seas rise and communities begin drowning across the globe, les- sons from work in North Cove could not only help protect its homes and farms, but benefit other areas as well. “So everything is on the line for us,” Cottrell said. Nelson said people seem more hopeful now that the community and the tribe have come together with county, state and federal agencies to fight erosion. “It’s the individual voice that makes a difference,” she said. “There has to be people saying we’re not leaving, we’re looking for a solution.” EMERALD HEIGHTS APARTMENTS IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR! WANTED $50,000 for homeowners to extend the project. Cottrell had hoped to get more conservation money for the work this year. But he was told the county didn’t have it because the Legislature delayed approval of the con- struction budget. Meantime, the Pacific County Marine Resource Com- mittee stepped in with $10,000 to shore up some of the worst spots this winter. The North Willapa Har- bor Grange is raising money to buy more basalt from a quarry in Raymond and extend the barrier. Volunteers are selling stickers, T-shirts and reusable grocery bags that say “Wash Away” in faded gray letters with “No More” printed over the top in bold red. The Grayland non- profit is also taking dona- tions online at gofundme.com/ wash-away-no-more. “People are more posi- tive now that they’re more involved,” Shoalwater Bay Tribe Chairwoman Charlene Nelson said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hiring a contrac- tor to rebuild the berm that helps protect the tribe’s reser- vation near Tokeland. The fed- eral agency expects to spend $10 million to $25 million to repair damaged sections of the 25-foot-tall, 12,000-foot-long barrier by early 2019, accord- ing to a government descrip- tion of the project. Last spring, Nelson went to Washington, D.C., to ask Congress for $480,000 to plan to move the tribe upland and build a road for tsunami and storm evacuation. She told lawmakers the berm the Army Corps finished four years ear- lier had temporarily halted erosion that threatened the res- ervation and SR 105, which connects the surrounding area to schools, grocery stores, health care, banks and hous- ing. According to a transcript of her May testimony, she told a federal budget subcommittee efforts to protect the area from erosion revealed the need for the tribe to move inland. Relocating away from the ocean shoreline isn’t an idea unique to the Shoalwaters. North along the coast, the Quinault Indian Nation is working to move the village of Taholah at the mouth of the Quinault River to higher ground due to threats from tsunamis, storm surge and riverine flooding. And in 2012 federal legislation allocated 785 acres of former Olympic National Park land as a new site for the Quileute Tribe’s town of La Push. The state Department of Transportation started work last summer on a $3.6 mil- lion restoration of a berm that reinforces SR 105 near North Cove. Crews are scheduled to finish adding cobble to stabi- lize damaged sections of the barrier this winter. “The rocks take some of the punch out of the ocean,” Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Treece said, adding a longer-term solution is needed. In the meantime, the work is expected to improve high- way safety between Aberdeen and Raymond and reduce the need for costly emergency repairs and unexpected clo- sures. The state departments of ecology and fish and wild- life are also working to com- bat coastal erosion. 1 BLOCK OFF BROADWAY • 1 BLOCK FROM BEACH 20 N. COLUMBIA, SEASIDE • 503-738-4331 NormasSeaside.com Call (503) 791-8134 or email i_want_to_help@astoriabands.org for more information.
