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