2004

2004 accomplishments
Surfrider Foundation - Oregon Chapter grew its membership by 98 members in the 2004 calendar year. Thank you for supporting a small, non-profit, volunteer-based organization that does everything it can to protect free public beach access, monitor Oregon's marine oceans, and educate the public about pollution-reducing techniques.

Currently Surfrider volunteers test:

  • Cannon Beach/Seaside/Astoria – 5 sites tested monthly
  • Pacific City – 2 sites weekly
  • Lincoln City – 4 sites – began summer 2003
  • Newport – 6 sites weekly
  • Bandon – 2 sites tested monthly
  • Coos Bay – 4 sites tested monthly
  • Port Orford – 3 sites tested monthly

The test results are displayed at many local surf shops, and on Surfrider's web site www.surfrider.org/oregon

2004 Accomplishments:

  • Thanks to Surfrider volunteers, the US Army Corps of Engineers is now required to maintain the beach in front of the new 300-foot rip-rap revetment along the beach at the north Tillamook Jetty. Hopefully, this action will save the wave at Barview.
  • Surfrider Foundation volunteers comprised a group membership of the DEQ/DHS Beach Monitoring Program Advisory Council. This Council formulated a health advisory sign and public notification procedure during high bacteria level events. This procedure was designed to maintain coastal tourism, adequately advise water recreation users, and educate beachgoers about how bacteria enters our oceans.
  • Surfrider Foundation – Oregon Chapter has been using the marine water testing program to educate coastal students, inland residents, and alpine recreationalists about how to reduce pollution in their respective watersheds.The SnowRider Program has been key to implementing this educational program.
  • Surfrider Foundation volunteers helped keep the Winchester Bay parking lot free and open to public beach use by assuring it wasn't purchased by the County, and remains in Corps ownership.
  • On stage, Jack Johnson gave props to Surfrider Foundation's Central Oregon Chapter. They recently completed a Deschutes River cleanup to help prevent trash from entering our water system.
  • Contrary to some rumors, Surfrider Foundation is not a group that legitimizes radical organizations, closes beaches or fishing grounds, a vehicle for personal vendettas or agendas, or used as an excuse just to go to the beach and party. We’ve made great progress in the past 8 years, and hope to continue doing so.

Thank you for your support. If you’d like to become a member, it’s only $25 ($15/student) and there are some good deals of membership/magazine subscription combinations at https://www.surfrider.org/ Better yet, come to a meeting, or get involved in your area.

Gorge Performance Supports Water Quality Testing
Gorge Performance donated 10% of the cost of all wetsuits sold in November. This money will go to purchase water quality testing supplies for Coos Bay, Bandon, and Port Orford. They raised $352.00. A big Mahalo to Gorge Performance for supporting Surfrider Foundation.

Shuler Custom Surfboard Raffle / Surfrider Benefit Results
On September 14th, Lanny Shuler learned the name for which he’ll be shaping a custom surfboard; a person who paid $10 for such an honor: Bruce Rosebrock of Longview. Bruce entered into the raffle for this board at Shuler Surfboards in Seaside. All donations went directly to Surfrider Foundation – Oregon Chapter’s Lincoln City and Pacific City water quality testing program. This raffle raised approximately $500 (about 35 water tests worth) for the program. Thanks to Lanny Shuler for donating his time, materials, and expertise to Surfrider’s cause – to keep Oregon’s marine water quality, maintain free beach access, and educate Oregon residents about ocean pollution. Thanks to Gorge Performance in Portland and Anthology Board Shop in Corvallis for hosting a raffle jar. Look for another raffle coming out soon, and another chance to win a very very inexpensive custom-shaped surfboard.

Support Surfrider's Sponsors This Holiday Season
If you're shopping for yourself or another water lover, be sure to support the businesses that support Surfrider Foundation. There's an economic circle in effect here; these businesses actively and monetarily support Surfrider's efforts. By helping them, you help yourself. Cannon Beach Surf Shop - Cannon Beach Gorge Performance Surf Shop - Portland Patagonia Portland Oregon Surf Shop - Lincoln City Seven Surfboards - Pacific City Ossie's Surf Shop - Newport Shuler Surfboards - Seaside Ocean Soul Surf Shop - Coos Bay/Charleston.

SURFRIDER FOUNDATION TO SUE FEDERAL AGENCIES
President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Environmental Protection Agency and Others Put on Notice for Planned Suit Over Violations of Federal Law Washington, D.C. (November 4, 2004) - Two days after winning a successful bid for re-election, President George W. Bush has found himself facing another battle; this time with America's surfers. The Surfrider Foundation, along with Wetlands Alert, has sent a notice of intent to sue to the White House, the Attorney General's Office, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and others, charging numerous violations of federal law, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The charges stem from the practice of using underground injection wells to dispose of sewage and wastewater in the state of Florida and elsewhere. Click here for more info.

Barview revetment approval permit from State Parks
In August, Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department approved the 300-foot rip-rap revetment along the beach at the north Tillamook Jetty. Surfrider Foundation submitted many comments regarding the proposed seawall's dangerous effects to the jetty, recreation users, and the shipping channel. [...] With over 100 email letters of opposition on Surfrider's Action Alert web site, Surfrider Foundation successfully pressured the Corps to retain our beaches. Thank you. Click here for more info and the resulting State Parks Alteration Permit.

Schuler Surfboard Raffle
Donate to Surfrider's water quality testing program and you could win a Shuler surfboard! Lincoln City and Newport water testing programs need money to continue. To raise $$, they have teamed up with Seaside shaper Lanny Shuler to raffle off a custom surfboard. Tickets are $1 and are available at Shuler's shop, Gorge Performance in Portland and Anthology Boardshop in Corvallis. There is no limit to the number of tickets. Drawing takes place September 14th at the Surfrider Foundation - Portland Chapter meeting at Pizza Schmizza on NE Broadway in Portland. Click here for more info. Updated 8/26/04 with corrected drawing date and location.

Dead Zone off the Oregon Coast?
Oregon State University graduate student Anthony Kirincich works on instruments to find a dead zone in the Pacific that suffocates sea life. Click here to read the full AP news story.

Help Save the Barview Wave!
The US Corps of Engineers (CORPS) proposed seawall at Barview County Park. There will be a public hearing for this seawall is on Tuesday, August 17th at 7:00 PM at Garibaldi City Hall. This public hearing is important, as it can determine the fate of proposed project and the Barview wave. Surfrider Foundation was created in 1984 to save the Malibu wave at Surfrider Point against poorly-planned government action. This action was halted because of the high number of people that attended a public hearing and spoke out against the action. The more people that attend and speak against this seawall, the higher the potential to stop this wave-destroying seawall. Click here for much more info.

Central Oregon Chapter Logo Design Contest
Central Oregon Surfrider is holding a logo design contest. Winner will receive national recognition in Making Waves and locally on our website. Winner will also receive a t-shirt and a hand-signed John Severson photo or print. Click here for all the info!

Wanted: Water Testing Volunteers in Newport
The Newport water monitoring program is funded for materials. We have a testing lab, testing personnel, testing and sampling equipment. What we don't have are volunteers to take samples at local beaches (Agate, South Beach, Otter Rock, Nye Beach) and transport the samples to the Aquarium. To learn more, click here to visit the Volunteer page.

2004 State of the Beach Report Online
This comprehensive report covers Beach Access, Water Quality, Beach Erosion, Shoreline Structures, Beach Ecology, Erosion Response, Surfing Areas. Click here to read the complete report or skip directly to the Oregon section.

“The Morning After Mess” Beach Cleanup Held on July 5th
San Diego, CA: On July 5th, over 1,000 volunteers picked up 2 tons of trash left behind from the 4th of July celebration. The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, along with Sun Diego Boardshops, sponsored the “Morning After Mess” in order to cleanup the litter and raise awareness about the mess. Click here to read more.

NPR: Scientists call for monitoring of beach pollution
(NPR, 06/27) "Every summer, many U.S. beaches are so fouled with human waste and other pollutants that authorities post 'no swimming' signs. But due to lax monitoring and other factors, many of those signs are wrong or out of date. Scientists say it's time for better beach monitoring and more common-sense warnings to swimmers. NPR's John Nielsen reports." Click here for the story from National Public Radio.

Oregon's Governor responds to the US Ocean Policy Commission Report
Click here to down load the PDF file containing the governor's response and recommendations.

Oregon DHS significantly reduces number of beaches tested
"The Oregon Beach Monitoring Program collected 1878 samples between May 2003 and April 2004; these samples were collected from 99 sampling points at 52 beaches along the Oregon coast. ... [34 beaches] were removed from the 2003 sampling list because all samples were below the current standard AND there were no/few people observed in the water at the time of sampling." Click here to read the full DHS release and see if your favorite surfing beaches are on the list of those that will no longer be tested.

Surfrider and Water Quality in the News:
Oregon beaches tested for pollution
Since regular water monitoring began last year, 3 percent of samples have exceeded the state's standard for bacteria. The water at Oregon's three dirtiest beaches -- all on the south coast -- exceeded the state's public health limit for bacteria for a combined 360 days in the past year. Click here to read the full Oregonian article.

Oregon's Dying Tide Pools
Some visitors to Oregon beaches this summer may be disappointed when they discover that some of the state’s famous tidepools are either being loved to death or could be dying from pollution and may not survive. Click here for more info from KATU.com.

Agate Beach Big Creek Channelization Response
Surfrider response to a May 10, 2004 letter and associated petition regarding an Oregon State Parks and Recreation (OPRD) request to channelize Big Creek, on Agate Beach in Newport Oregon. Click here to read the letter and recommendations written by Oregon Surfrider in response.

California Sea Lion Found Full Of Plastic
"A kitchen-sized trash bag. Four latex balloons. A handful of polystyrene foam. A two-inch piece of white plastic. Marine-mammal experts discovered these items in the stomach of a 56-pound California sea lion that was found on the beach at Crystal Cove this week." - excerpt from the San Jose Mercury News article. Click here to read the full article (registration required).

What's Surfrider National been up to?
Check the following link to find this quarter's update:
http://www.surfrider.org/chapter_update_spring2004.htm

Oregon Surfrider's recommendations regarding marine water quality
Oregon Non Governmental Organizations have compiled a list of recommendations to be conveyed to the Governor and relevant state agencies for their response/recommendation being sent to President Bush. Click here to view Oregon Surfrider's recommendations regarding marine water quality and find out how you can help.

Response to US Commision on Ocean Policy report
Updated: On April 21, The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released their preliminary report to the nation's governors. The report, which comes on the heels of last year's Pew Oceans Commission Report, finds that pollution, over-fishing, increased coastal development, altered sediment flow and dramatic declines in water quality have significantly impacted the health and safety of our oceans, waves and beaches. Click here for more information and links.

Drew Kampion: slides and stories from his surf writing career, and a showing of Litmus
The Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and Patagonia Portland present: Drew Kampion Showing slides and telling stories from his surf writing career, and showing the film Litmus. May 6th in Portland. Click here for more information.
UPDATED: Click here to view the poster for this event.

Mailing List Subscribers - PLEASE READ
The oregon-surfriders emailing list has been down for the last several weeks and I am finally able to fix it and bring it back to life. However, the current subscriber list was lost and will be reverted to a list that was saved several months ago. If you have subscribed to or unsubscribed from the list since January 2, 2004, please go follow the link above to update your subscription. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Response to US Commision on Ocean Policy report
Response to the U.S. Commission's preliminary report and its statements on offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters: (prepared by Richard Charter, Marine Conservation Advocate, Environmental Defense) The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) preliminary report correctly recognizes that America's coastal waters are suffering adverse impacts from harmful non-point water pollution and are concurrently experiencing alarming declines in important fisheries and marine ecosystems, primarily as a result of overfishing. In addition to acknowledging these danger signals from current human activities, the Commission's report goes on to emphasize the need to better understand the cumulative and long term impacts of offshore oil and gas development, especially from low levels of persistent organic and inorganic chemicals and their cumulative or synergistic effects on the marine environment. Click here for more information.

Help Keep Newport’s Beaches Clean
Much of the Highway 101 roadside garbage ends up on the adjacent beaches and ocean. Plastics are the #1 solid pollutant in the ocean. Help reduce the trash being transported into our local beaches and oceans.

The Surfrider Foundation and the Hanglider Pilots Association have adopted a stretch of Highway 101 north of Newport at Moolack Beach. We’re hosting a road cleanup along this stretch. We’ll provide gloves, bags, and safety vests. It typically only takes 1 hour, and collect about one bag of trash. Click here for more information.

When: Saturday, April 3rd 11:00 AM
Where: Moolack Beach Parking Area
Contact: Markus Mead (mmead@surfrider.org) for information.

OP Northwest Cleanwater Classic Results and Photos
This past weekend Op presented the 3rd Annual Northwest Clean Water Classic in Westport, Washington. Thanks to Op, all competitors in the contest became members of the Surfrider Foundation. Because of the tremendous dedication of the chapter volunteers from the Northwest Straits, Seattle and Olympic Peninsula Chapters of the Surfrider Foundation (and Mother Ocean giving us some big heavy barrels), the event was a huge success! Click here for contest results and photos.

Why Surfrider Foundation?
Check out this quote by Kevin Naughton. It is taken from an interview on surfermag.com What do you think of the Surfrider Foundation?
Kevin: Can surfers really afford NOT to have a Surfrider Foundation? Let's face it: If space invaders were taking over the planet and surfers were in the unlikely position of negotiating a treaty, everything on the inland side of the coast highway would be relinquished freely. Just give us the beaches. The world could be going to hell in a hand basket and so long as the waves are good it's alright. You'd be hard pressed to come across a group more singlemindedly selfish than surfers. Don't think the rest of the world doesn't know this and make fun of us at every opportunity. That's why the Surfrider Foundation is there. It forces surfers to stand up and be counted and forces the rest of the world to take notice. Surfrider gives voice to the powers that be that surfers have come of age, that we can think beyond our last ride and our next wave. Realistically, I know that most of us can't, which is all the more reason why the Surfrider Foundation needs to be there to do the thinking for us.

Upqua Lighthouse Access
Ownership issues for Salmon Harbor and Winchester Bay are being reviewed and reworked in a new Master Plan. Click here for the letter formally submitted to Oregon Parks and Recreation by Surfrider Oregon.

3rd Anual Clean Water Classic
Op presents The Surfrider Foundation’s 3rd Annual Northwest Clean Water Classic, March 6 and 7, at Westport Beach, Washington. Click here for more information.

2003 - Click here

 

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