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Just got back from a trip asking the Washington State coast, including Westport and Ocean Shores, and Birch Bay near Bellingham. The beaches were nearly pristi

Just got back from a trip asking the Washington State coast, including Westport and Ocean Shores, and Birch Bay near Bellingham. The beaches were nearly pristine, for the number of people there. I only saw the occasional lost sandal on the various beaches, and a few beer cans near bonfire dugouts. I was surprised at the lack of plastic and debris, given reports like yours. Is there a state or federal agency that combs America's beaches?

selectodude 8y ago
Usually the municipality sweeps the beach every morning.
- kartan 8y ago
  > Usually the municipality sweeps the beach every morning. This. People don't realize how costly can be to maintain a beach in a good state. I remember getting early to the beach seeing one of this https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/BronzeOldfashionedKarakul https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/BronzeOldfashionedKarakul Even more expensive is beach nourishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_nourishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_nourishment Cleaning work is ungrateful because people only notice it when you do a bad job.
  - stephengillie 8y ago
    Do they normally comb the privately-owned beaches that border the public beaches too? A lot of Ocean Shores is privately-owned, and it's bordered by private beaches. Most beach wanderers are accidentally trespassing. Also, how do they clean the beaches where automobiles are not allowed? Part of Ocean Shores beach doesn't allow cars. And what about the miles of sand dunes, rocky beaches, jettys and other places cars can't go? How do so few people keep clean so much coastline? Are they training seagulls and deer to pick up litter? It doesn't scale...
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    Ugh. Sometime in the 90s we went to the Maldives and they used one of those beach nourishment devices early in the morning, every couple of days. When we went scuba diving and swimming the consequences of their auto-dredging/sand spraying contraption were horrific, extensive and obvious to all. The organised diving trip to the local reef was to a mainly dead, slime covered reef. Talking with the locals, who were the maintenance and wait staff, made it plain we'd chosen the "wrong" island for experiencing the Maldives. It was that holiday and the stupidity we saw that significantly changed our environmental awareness and views.
mistrial9 8y ago
Pacific Northwest coast has ocean current flowing strongly from North to South.. all the way down to California..
- stephengillie 8y ago
  The Columbia hits the Pacific like a firehose hitting pavement, where it spreads in all directions - south past Oregon and California, and north past Washington and British Columbia. This flow is slowly eroding Ocean Shores and other coastal towns. The Quinault tribe is asking the Federal Government to give them some of the Olympic National Forest, to replace the coastal part of their reservation which has washed away.

selectodude 8y ago

Usually the municipality sweeps the beach every morning.

kartan 8y ago
> Usually the municipality sweeps the beach every morning. This. People don't realize how costly can be to maintain a beach in a good state. I remember getting early to the beach seeing one of this https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/BronzeOldfashionedKarakul https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/BronzeOldfashionedKarakul Even more expensive is beach nourishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_nourishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_nourishment Cleaning work is ungrateful because people only notice it when you do a bad job.
- stephengillie 8y ago
  Do they normally comb the privately-owned beaches that border the public beaches too? A lot of Ocean Shores is privately-owned, and it's bordered by private beaches. Most beach wanderers are accidentally trespassing. Also, how do they clean the beaches where automobiles are not allowed? Part of Ocean Shores beach doesn't allow cars. And what about the miles of sand dunes, rocky beaches, jettys and other places cars can't go? How do so few people keep clean so much coastline? Are they training seagulls and deer to pick up litter? It doesn't scale...
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Ugh. Sometime in the 90s we went to the Maldives and they used one of those beach nourishment devices early in the morning, every couple of days. When we went scuba diving and swimming the consequences of their auto-dredging/sand spraying contraption were horrific, extensive and obvious to all. The organised diving trip to the local reef was to a mainly dead, slime covered reef. Talking with the locals, who were the maintenance and wait staff, made it plain we'd chosen the "wrong" island for experiencing the Maldives. It was that holiday and the stupidity we saw that significantly changed our environmental awareness and views.

mistrial9 8y ago

Pacific Northwest coast has ocean current flowing strongly from North to South.. all the way down to California..

stephengillie 8y ago
The Columbia hits the Pacific like a firehose hitting pavement, where it spreads in all directions - south past Oregon and California, and north past Washington and British Columbia. This flow is slowly eroding Ocean Shores and other coastal towns. The Quinault tribe is asking the Federal Government to give them some of the Olympic National Forest, to replace the coastal part of their reservation which has washed away.