Speaker: Elissa Connolly-Randazzo, Coastal Outreach Fellow, Ocean/Coastal Service Division Department of Land and Conservation Development

Topic: Oregon’s Beaches & Dunes

This is a presentation for audiences eager to learn more about the ecology and history of Oregon’s unique coastline. Elissa Connolly-Randazzo, Coastal Outreach Fellow with the Oregon Coastal Management Program (OCMP), will share information about the importance of these landforms, how they are influenced by vegetation, and how they have historically changed. The beaches and dunes of the Oregon coast make up about 72% (or 262 miles) of the coastline and have undergone intense periods of change over the last 100 years, due to both natural and human-caused processes, including: the rapid expansion of non-native beach grasses; development in foredune areas; management activities such as foredune grading and planting; construction of coastal engineering projects to mitigate erosion hazards; sea level rise and increased storm activity; and substantial shoreline changes around jetty-controlled estuaries. This presentation will dive into some of these changes, as well as highlight many benefits of Oregon’s beaches and dunes, such as providing a buffer against erosion and flooding, storing blue carbon, and providing habitat. Lastly, Elissa will share high level state land use policies meant to protect the ecological, protective, and intrinsic values of beaches and dunes and to reduce exposure of people and development to coastal hazards.