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Oregon Coast Perspectives: Mother Nature, Father Time

By Guy DiTorrice

Guy DiTorrice

(Oregon Coast) - Two years ago, about this time, I had just finished checking a dozen websites from Naples to Venice, Florida; with special emphasis on available web cams and weather coverage. I was searching for news on the dive shop where I spent my spring vacation. The big news on that day in 2004 was the hurricanes and tropical storms making headlines along our country's other west coast - Florida's Gulf Coast.

The dive shop website noted they boarded up the place, tied up their boats and left town for safety inland. And, thanks to the fickle nature of these storms, the dive shop and its boats were spared, with scheduled dives heading out just a few days later.

Towns mentioned on CNN and the Weather Channel recalled memories of walks on sandy beaches, visits to museums, and scuba dives in warm Gulf waters. Streaming television news on the Internet brought the full force and fury of Mother Nature on-the-wild-path thousands of miles away right here to my desk.

Seeing some one else's trees swaying sideways, water covering bridges and buildings with missing parts makes me appreciate how much milder our occasional nor'wester impacts us. Yeah, yeah, I know - "Remember the Columbus Day storm?" and, I was here when the Newport Izzy's lost its roof a few years back (with the old salad bar landing in my backyard).

Storms in Newport

But, to see hundreds of thousands of cars lined up in multiple lanes of highways, with everyone headed virtually in one direction - AWAY from the beach. Now, that's scary. Not to mention hearing that 700,000 homes are without power, probably for more than a couple days. That's really humbling.

Of course, we've seen our share of weather on the Oregon Coast over time. Hot summer valley days hit our cool, moist air, giving us the fogs. Soon, we'll settle into the early fall months and those clear, sunny days that we call the "locals' summer."

The on-going struggle between weather and time shapes and molds our coast, stretching over eons. The powerful tropical storms and depressions experienced by other coastal communities condense those same activities into hours and days.

We bemoan our foggy, cloudy days, getting little solace in how many more days of sunshine grace our shorelines. And, we just as easily forget how the sunny days of fall give way to the excitement of the storm-tossed days of winter, with large waves of foamy surf pounding the shoreline. Reminding us - in much smaller doses - about the potential fury of Mother Nature.

The flotsam and jetsam of storm-tossed seas coming to our shores pales in comparison to the wood and debris managing to land there from rivers and streams inland. There's plenty more ending up on the beach besides twisted driftwood and shrubbery sliding down eroded hills and sandy dunes.

Twice a year we Oregonians put on our gloves, get our bags and pickers, and head down to the Great Oregon Beach Clean-up. Once in the spring and once in the fall. Before and after our busy visitor season.

This weekend, like every clean-up session, they pick up tens of thousands of pounds of debris - ranging from broken-down foam coolers, bottles and cans, to abandoned vehicles, old washers and an occasional discarded refrigerator. Thousands of volunteers spend a focused day picking up and hauling all they find to convenient drop sites for proper recycling and disposal.

Stay tuned to BeachConnection.net to find out more about what they've found on the beaches.

Guy DiTorrice is a full-time resident of the Central Oregon Coast, where he spends his non-working hours on the beach. He can be reached at www.oregonfossilguy.com

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