Anacortes

A new beach (several, actually) and a very small pocket estuary. An amazing contrast to the remains of the old Custom Plywood mill. And probably quite a contrast to whatever marsh or beach marked this shoreline before the 1860s.

Here are two previous entries on this site:

• October 2013
• April 2006

AERIAL VIEW (probably out of date)

These beach projects often rearrange themselves very rapidly after construction. After all, they involve placing loose sediment in places where waves and tidal currents are expected to move it around. This isn't necessarily a problem - good projects are designed to allow this kind of adjustment. But often these early changes are not well documented and as a result, we lose an opportunity to learn and to improve future projects. There will be some sort of formal monitoring of this site, but these programs often miss some of the most important (and often most interesting) geomorphic details.

On a brief, late afternoon visit, here's what caught my eye:

• A new flood tide delta was building inside the southern edge of the inlet, shifting gravel from the beachface into the lagoon.
• A mid-tide berm was building northward across the outlet channel, pushing it northward.
• The sandy crest of the outer spit was eroding on both sides, although more on the south. I wonder if this sandy material - and the beach grass - will make it through next winter.
• The beach to the north was looking pretty cool, but I didn't have time to explore further.

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