Speaking for Oregon, we adopted a law stating that the beaches of Oregon are
for all to enjoy and not for the few who could afford the cost and put in the
fences to keep the rest out. So far so good, however I have noticed this law
has been pushed and tested and lawyered to death over the many years it has
been in effect. We as voters must be vigilant to keep it up. As a collector I
have noticed the natural changes in the beach most of all. When I play as a
child (25 years ago) I remember the fantastic tidepools that once dominated
some areas now they are covered, at least partly, with sand. Although, I
guess as some are buried others are exposed and so on. Now if this darned El
/ La Niyo (however it's spelled) would just go away, maybe I could actually
collect again!
 
Stephen McMahan
 
 
In a message dated 4/19/99 6:29:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
 
<< I've never been to the Great Northwest. However, in the early 70's I
 visited Eureka in northern California, attending a geologic field trip. We
 walked 4 miles of beach back and forth. I was deeply impressed by the lack
 of trash. I counted exactly two pieces: one styrofoam cup and one wooden
 crate marked in Russian, so it was not so much a piece of trash as an
 interesting piece of cast-up flotsam. Of course, the timber industry had
 also added its contribution in the form of cast-up logs, but logs are too
 natural to seem like trash, so it all looked pristine, untouched.
 
 There weren't many shells on the beach; the waves were rough, and the sand
 was coarse and steep. But I did see a large squid (its body maybe 0.6 m
 long) cast up. We put it back in the water, but it seemed to be exhausted.
 
 I wonder whether any pristine areas will exist for much longer. There are
 at least twice as many people alive as when I was born, and I'm only 46. In
 the 60's and 70's, there was a big flourish of studies on the geology and
 biology of whole bays, reefs, atolls, etc.--the more untouched, the better.
 Now it would be difficult to find (for instance) a reasonably natural
 estuary in California to study, as my major professor John Warme did (Mugu
 Lagoon). Dredging, beach nourishment, introduction of non-native species,
 sewage, other pollution, decrease of river water entering bays, increase of
 nutrient dust in winds heading offshore, and the one that affects
 everything: global warming...
 
 Two boys were in the forest when it began to rain, and they took shelter
 under a tree. "What will we do when the leaves soak through?" one boy
 asked. "We'll just go to the next tree," replied the other.
 
 Collect your shells while you can. And take good notes.
 
 Andrew K. Rindsberg
 Geological Survey of Alabama
 
  >>