| Shoreline Enhancement/Restoration |
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Thank you to Doralee Booth for bringing the following to our attention:
In 1975 Wolf Bauer, a nationally recognized expert on shoreline restoration, was hired by the Whatcom County Planning Commission and aided through a grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology with funds obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. His Birch Bay Shoreline Analysis Report was published by Whatcom County in September, 1975. The following quote is from that document...
"Probably the most productive starting point for community (government) action is a realistic resource inventory that assigns proper economic significance to its prime attraction and amenities., In the case of shore-based communities such as Birch Bay, often that primary resource begins and ends with the shore and waterway environments. Many communities in the Puget Sound and Georgia Strait Basins have come to realize that, unless they make a concerted and informed planning effort, they will have defaulted control over their destiny. At this point in time, the Birch Bay Community occupies, so to speak, a front-row seat to a melodrama that has been playing the shoreline circuit to surprise audiences all over the land. The drama is titled 'It Can't Happen Here,' and while the players and stage setting always differ, the plot and ending are predictable and tragic--the local resident waking up, one morning, with the realization that what he came for no longer exists, and that it's too late to reverse the trend, or find greener pastures elsewhere. Whether this realization is a result of overcrowding, loss of former amenities, or a weakening confidence in long-term economic benefits -- it is a direct outcome of lack of community (government) understanding of how to identify, preserve, enhance, and to cash in on the special quality or uniqueness of its local landscape heritage. Thus a community (government) must continuously remind itself that if it is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem."
The Birch Bay shoreline restoration plan is one of the many approved plans that has remained on the County shelf for more than 30 years. How much longer do concerned communities wait for their public officials to take action? Wolf Bauer continues...."Only about 5% of our total inland marine shores are Class I dry berm type associated with accretion shoreforms and their multi-purpose backshore environments. There would be few misgivings in classifying them as an endangered species and assigning them highest heritage resource status."
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The Before picture is of mid-Bay showing all the groins.
The After picture is of the 1980's restored section of shoreline just north of the mouth of Terrell Creek. | 
Before & After Pictures |
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Birch Bay Shoreline Enhancement/Birch Bay Drive Pedestrian Project Update 10/07
With Phase I completed, the next phase of the Birch Bay Shoreline Enhancement Project, aka The Berm Project, Shoreline Restoration &/or Beachfront Promenade, called Phase IIA (completed 12/07, see report above), will complete the construction cost estimate of the project. With the cost estimate we will have a much better idea of funding sources. Philip Williams & Associates had their contract amended at the Whatcom County Council meeting of Aug. 7, 2007 for the cost estimate phase. Public Works has the funds available for this in the 2007 budget.
In addition, Public Works has approved $400,000 in the 2008 to 2013 6-Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) as Priority #5 called Birch Bay Drive Pedestrian Facility and approved this as Priority #5 on the Annual Construction Program for 2008, to complete the preliminary design, construction phases and permitting research (completion of Phase II). As of 3/08, this funding is now in question.
Phase III will include permitting and final design, most likely in 2009.
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| The Communities' Shoreline Restoration Objectives |
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