The final round of this season’s citizen science King Tide Project has been completed. Now the public is invited to a party to celebrate the success of this winter’s project, through which volunteers photographically document the year’s highest tides, and start preparing for next year’s “king tides.” The King Tide Wrap-Up Party for the south coast takes place Saturday, February 4, at the Charleston Marine Life Center (63466 Boat Basin Dr., opposite the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology), 5-7:30 p.m. The event will also provide for many a chance to take a first look at this new facility. All are welcome. The event is free, and refreshments will be provided. The best of this winter’s King Tide Project photos will be shown throughout the evening. The event and the King Tide Project are sponsored by the CoastWatch program of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, Surfrider, and the Coastal Management Program of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD). The speaker for this occasion is Meg Reed, Coastal Shores Specialist for DLCD. Reed worked with CoastWatch and Surfrider to organize the King Tide Project. She will discuss her research on sea level rise, coastal erosion, shoreline armoring, and future policy options in managing our shoreline in an era of climate impacts. She will also explain how volunteers cooperating through the King Tide Project provide valuable data points that managers and scientists can use to track such impacts. Oregon’s King Tide Project is part of a worldwide initiative through which anyone with a camera can help document the reach of the year’s highest high tides, often called “king tides.” While “king tide” isn’t a scientific term (it’s Australian slang, since the project began on that continent), it is used to describe an especially high tide event, when the sun, moon, and earth are in alignment, causing the greatest gravitational pull on the tides. When king tides occur during floods or storms, water levels can rise to higher levels and have the potential to impact infrastructure, property, and the coastline. King Tide events give us the opportunity to peek into the future and see what the impacts of sea level rise could look like on our coastal communities. Even a small increase in sea levels could increase the intensity and impacts of winter storms along the Oregon coast, exacerbating chronic hazards like erosion and flooding, and decreasing the width of the public beach. By capturing images of these extreme high tides, scientists and planners hope to gain insight into how rising sea levels will impact coastal areas in the future. The long-term dataset, based on the contributions of volunteers, can help inform residents and decision makers about the need to plan for the coming changes to our natural and built environments. The project will take place again next winter, so the Wrap-up Party is also an opportunity to learn about how to participate in the future. For more information about the technical aspects of the project, contact Meg Reed, Coastal Shores Specialist with Oregon Dept. of Land Conservation and Development, (541) 574-0811, meg.reed@state.or.us. For information about participating in the project or about the party, contact Fawn Custer, CoastWatch Volunteer Coordinator, at (541) 270-0027, fawn@oregonshores.org.
