Climate Articles

Sea otters in the Gulf of Alaska, where populations have been restored. /photo by Kedar Gadge, Unspl

Sea Otter Study Points to Reintroduction Feasibility

Sea otters in the Gulf of Alaska, where populations have been restored. /photo by Kedar Gadge, Unsplash.com On July 27, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released a report to Congress supporting the feasibility of reintroducing sea otters to their historic range on the Pacific...Read more
Jordan Cove

Jordan Cove Victory—At Least for Now

Jordan Cove, at left in the photo, won't be the site of an LNG terminal.\Photo by Rena Olson, with support from Lighthawk. Exciting news for anyone concerned about land use, estuaries, and climate change: The Jordan Cove Energy Project has abandoned its effort to build an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal on Coos Bay’s North Spit. On Wednesday, Nov...Read more
Tidepool life at Indian Point.\Photo by Ingrid Lam.

Student Essay Explores Kelp and Climate

tidepool_bw_ingrid_lam.png Last November, our CoastWatch program sponsored a talk by Steve Rumrill of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), who discussed the importance of protecting rocky coastal habitats in light of the decline of species such as kelp, abalone, and sea stars. His talk was entitled “Calamity in the Kelp: Recent...Read more

Major Land Use Victory Blocks Jordan Cove

Protest against Jordan Cove in North Bend.\Photo by Jody McCaffree. The Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) has awarded Oregon Shores and allies a significant, multi-part victory in our efforts to block the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal. In a decision handed down on Dec. 22, LUBA overturned Coos County’s permits for the Jordan Cove Energy Project’s...Read more

Oregon Shores Joins Defense of Endangered Species Act

Western Snowy Plovers at South Beach.\Photo by Molly Sultany. Oregon Shores joined 45 other ocean conservation groups recently in protesting an attempt by the Trump administration to cripple the Endangered Species Act, with new definitions of “habitat” which would severely limited the law’s effectiveness. To see our joint comment,...Read more

'Sharing the Coast' Time Soon to Arrive

Horsfall Beach near Coos Bay; European beachgrass (foreground) will be a topic at the conference.\Photo by Dina Pavlis. The 11 th annual Sharing the Coast Conference is coming up March 13-15. This time around the conference, a collaboration between CoastWatch and the Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators (NAME), will be held in Coos Bay, at Southwestern...Read more

State Adopts Plan to Address Ocean Acidification

Oregon's ocean off Netarts, Cape Lookout in the background.\Photo by Dale Harmer. Mandated by the 2017 Oregon Legislature, the state developed a plan to address the growing problem of ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). The Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH), a body composed of scientists and agency leaders, with...Read more
King Tide on the Clatsop County shore.\Photo courtesy of ORKingTides.

Final King Tide Series Now Surging

King Tide on the Clatsop County shore.\Photo courtesy of ORKingTides. The final round of the 2017-2018 King Tide Project, through which volunteer photographers document the highest tides of the year, is upon us. The third and last series of extreme high tides (known as "king tides") occurs January 2-4. (The first two rounds took place in November and December...Read more