Protect Clatsop County Public Beaches and Dunes

On October 8, the Clatsop County Commissioners unanimously adopted updates to the County's comprehensive plan to reflect modern needs for managing the areas beaches, dunes and coastal development, particularly in the face of environmental challenges like sea level rise and coastal erosion. As climate impacts accelerate, the County’s leadership in updating the plan sets a meaningful precedent for protecting public beaches, coastal ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them. The final language reflects a clear understanding of the challenges facing Oregon’s beaches and dunes and a strong commitment to protecting public access to and along the shoreline - read more.

Surfrider Foundation’s North Coast Chapter and partners have been working proactively to improve shoreline management and protect public beaches along Oregon’s north coast. Clatsop County stood up a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and public process to update its comprehensive plan specifically addressing management of estuaries (Goal 16), coastal shorelands (Goal 17), and beaches and dunes (Goal 18).  These “Goals,” which have the force of law, are the fundamental structure of Oregon’s statewide land use planning system and are executed through local plans. At stake are future policies concerning such issues as shoreline armoring, public access, development in dune areas, and cable crossings of the shoreline. 

Each year mother nature continues to take bites out of our public beaches. A host of climate change events, from more severe storms and erosion events to sea level rise, are shrinking one of our most valuable coastal recreational assets and requiring us to rethink how we manage static shoreline development, with an ever-changing public beach. Local land use planning decisions and comprehensive plans are the guiding principles and laws for how we manage these public resources. Ultimately, it is these plans that will guide the decision making that supports our fate to adapt to climate change and protect public beaches or possibly lose them all together.

So Surfrider Foundation teamed up with partners like Oregon Shores and legal experts to review and make climate-forward recommendations to Clatsop County’s Comprehensive planning and engage in the Technical Advisory Committee and public process.  As part of our Oregon Beaches Forever campaign, we sought to organize public involvement in the planning process, advocating for the strongest possible conservation  and access provisions.

Our goals for updating the comprehensive plan: 

1. Prioritizing shoreline hazard and erosion control solutions that better protect recreational uses and the longterm preservation of beaches (nature-based solutions)
2. Updated planning maps and associated development policies which incorporate future sea level rise levels and other associated climate change impacts 
3. Required climate adaptation planning to identify, assess, and, to the extent feasible, avoid and mitigate the adverse effects of sea level rise on public coastal resources.

You can visit Clatsop County’s comprehensive plan update website to view the county’s public information about the plan update and find links to the current language in the plan relating to the goals under review.

***This Campaign is a part of the Oregon Beaches Forever Campaign. We’re looking to raise 10,000 voices to safeguard Oregon’s Beaches – add your voice here today!***