Author: cgswp

Events, Projects

Bellingham’s Waypoint Park Beach Makes Headlines

Waypoint Park beach, Bellingham, Washington. Photo courtesy of the Port of Bellingham.

Bellingham’s Waypoint Park beach made headlines on May 20th! The site cleanup and beach creation at Waypoint joins three others as winner of “America’s Best Restored Beach”, an award given each year by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. Waypoint Park is one of two CGS projects to win this award: the Port of Bellingham’s Marine Park won the title in 2009.

The other 2019 winners are:

  • Caminada Headland, Louisiana
  • South Padre Island, Texas
  • Duval County, Florida

Congratulations to the project teams who restored these beaches!

Read the Bellingham Herald announcement here.

And the original ASBPA announcement with information on all the projects here.

Projects, Services

Sunlight Shores Community Beach Restored

Happy New Year! This year we resolve to complete more shore armor removal projects like this one: Sunlight Shores community beach on Whidbey Island was once a bank lined with creosote treated wood piles, large angular boulders, debris, and fill. Now it is a beautiful, resilient beach with restored salt marsh habitat, new native plantings, and improved community beach access. To view a time lapse of the armor removal and beach restoration process, click on the video below or follow this link.

Here is the project in numbers:

  • 350 linear feet of shoreline restored
  • 72 cubic yards of toxic, creosote-treated wood piles removed
  • 355 cubic yards of boulders and debris removed
  • 5,250 square feet of upper beach including salt marsh habitat restored
  • 4 large logs, root wads, and other on-site logs installed for added protection

This was a project by the Northwest Straits Foundation with a grant from the Salmon Funding Recovery Board. CGS completed site assessments, meetings with landowners, site mapping, permit and final design drawings and assisted the NWSF with construction oversight. Here’s to more exciting restoration projects in the new year!

Projects

Oak Harbor Naval Base Armor Removal Completed

Armor removal was recently completed at the south-facing bluff and beach at the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, located south of Oak Harbor, Washington. A 1978 demonstration project by the US Army Corps of Engineers placed old tires, rocks, and creosoted wood at the base of the bluff as a “low-cost shore protection” solution. These armor materials had almost completely failed by 1979 and were removed from the south shore of the Maylors Point peninsula between Oak Harbor and Crescent Harbor in September and October of 2018.

The Northwest Straits Foundation sponsored the project, with Lisa Kaufman as the project manager. An estimated total of 1,300 old tires, up to 6,000 intertidal concrete bags, and over 1,380 cubic yards of treated wood, armor stone, intertidal angular rock, and artificial fill were removed from 1,800 FT of historical feeder bluff shore. CGS performed site mapping, feasibility, armor removal and restoration design, and assisted with construction oversight.

This project was identified as part of a GIS-based feasibility and benefit assessment aimed at identifying and ranking feeder bluff restoration projects in Island and East Jefferson Counties. For more information on this effort, please visit the Salish Sea Wiki page!

Visit the Northwest Straits Foundation website for more information on Maylor Point and other recent armor removal projects!

Events

Workshops for Realtors: Understanding Beach and Bluff Properties

With a Water View is a one-day workshop designed for real estate brokers and appraisers to learn about coastal beach and bluff properties and how to help clients navigate this information and increase property value. Upcoming workshops will be held in Coupeville and Port Hadlock and will discuss coastal geology, shoreline processes, erosion management, and more.

For more information and to learn about the featured speakers, view the event flyer: With a Water View

Click here to register for the Coupeville workshop on October 25th: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3613479

Click here to register for the Port Hadlock workshop on October 26th: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3613484

Events

Free Vegetation Workshops for Coastal Landowners in Skagit and Island Counties

The Northwest Straits Foundation (NWSF) is providing free workshops for coastal landowners on coastal geology, proper vegetation and drainage management, and nearshore wildlife habitat! If you live in Skagit or Island Counties, or if you missed the Whatcom County workshop, consider spending an evening learning about how you can manage slope stability on your coastal bank or bluff property, and talk with representatives of local organizations to access a host of great resources.

Skagit County:

October 16, 5:30 to 8:00 pm (presentations begin at 6)

Fidalgo Bay Resort Conference Center, 4701 Fidalgo Bay Rd., Anacortes

Island County:

October 17, 5:30 to 8:00 pm (presentations begin at 6)

Meadow Room at the Four Springs Lake Preserve, 585 Lewis Lane, Camano Island

Visit https://nwstraitsfoundation.org/project/shoreline-armor-reduction-program/ for more information.