04 • 15 • 2017
Care For The Cove
Ensure the Army Corp of Engineers adheres to a 1998 ruling referencing sand replenishment in the identified zones of Half Moon Bay in Westport. Over the last four years the ACOE has not deposited sand in the most near-shore cell leading to safety concerns and impacting local beach recreation.
The construction of the South Jetty, North Jetty, and Groins in Westport, WA, and Ocean Shores, has created a beneficial navigable channel for vital commerce in Southwest Washington. The interaction of these manmade structures with nature over the last 100 years have also resulted in a variety of recreational and environmental impacts that have had to be mitigated. One of these impacts is the creation and maintenance of Half Moon Bay.
In 1998, a settlement agreement, lasting for the life of the project (50 years), was agreed upon by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Surfrider Foundation to ensure sand replenishment both onshore and offshore of Half Moon Bay. Since 2013, sand replenishment has not occurred due to unavailability of the Yaquina, and degradation of the recreational value of this beach is occurring. In conjunction with further risks to the City of Westport due to erosion, the chapter was succesful in achieving (as required in the settlement agreement) sand replenishment in the near-shore cell and begining a monitoring program to assess its effects to the beach profile and bathymetry.