Oregon Coast March Lecture Addresses Erosion of Beachfront Communities

Published 03/01/2013

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) -What will the future bring to oceanfront homes along the Oregon coast? How will continued erosion affect living in those spots? What can we do to help prevent further problems? Indeed, can we? (Photo above: Cannon Beach erosion, courtesy Patrick Corcoran).

These questions and many more concepts of about coastal hazards along Oregon's beach communities will be addressed in an upcoming World of Haystack Rock Library Lecture Series: "Living on the Edge: Adapting to coastal erosion and shoreline change."

The lecture will happen in Cannon Beach at the Cannon Beach Library on March 7. Patrick Corcoran, a coastal hazards specialist with OSU and Sea Grant, will give the talk.

Winter erosion cuts dunes at Gearhart (photo Tom Horning)

In it, Corcoran will describe the changing nature of storms and erosion on the Oregon coast and the efforts of some communities to better understand their local hazards, along with the multitude of issues arising from them. It will allow the audience to explore their personal and collective options, and perhaps take actions to address the hazards of today with an eye toward the future.

Patrick Corcoran is a “Hazards Outreach Specialist” with Oregon State University and Oregon Sea Grant. Pat is an OSU faculty member who lives in Astoria and works out of the Clatsop County Extension office. Corcoran's time is spent applying university research to the pressing needs of coastal communities in the area of coastal natural hazards.

Above: coastal highway sinkhole by Newport

After working as a campus specialist for 17 years in Corvallis, Corcoran moved to the north coast in 2003 to be the Outreach Coordinator for the NOAA Coastal Storms Program. This program developed maps, models, and tools to help people at the Mouth of the Columbia River better observe, understand, and adapt to, severe winter storms.

Corcoran's work centers around the “chronic” coastal hazards of coastal erosion and shoreline change, and that will be the primary focus of his talk in Cannon Beach. Corcoran also works to help Oregon coast communities to build resilience to this regions’ greatest “catastrophic” hazard: the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and tsunamis.

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