Coasts – Camera – Action: community-driven research for adapting to Willapa Bay’s rapidly changing north shore

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Roxanne Carini (Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington)

CO-INVESTIGATORS: Nicole Errett (University of Washington)

The north shore of Willapa Bay is on the front lines of climate change. For decades, erosion has claimed large swathes of its coastline, with devastating impacts to the traditional lands of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, the local economy, natural habitat, homes, and critical infrastructure. North Cove is part of the Columbia River Littoral Cell, a coastal system within which sediment sources, pathways, and sinks can be identified and balanced. North Cove beaches are subject to incoming ocean waves, estuarine tidal currents, and wind waves, in addition to sea level rise and storm surge, whose relative strength and interaction vary seasonally and dictate sediment transport in the area.

This project proposes using CoastSnap, a low-cost alternative to current monitoring techniques that utilizes community-science to provide less-accurate, but still useful, beach metrics. CoastSnap can fill a critical gap in measurements about how North Cove beaches respond to short-term events, and how erosion mitigation projects, like dynamic revetments, affect beach stability. Researchers will use a combination of participatory action and community-science research techniques, Photovoice and CoastSnap, respectively, to amplify the voices of community members directly affected by coastal hazards and erosion and to provide sustainable, long-term tracking of quantitative beach metrics. With these metrics, the project aims to create products that help residents and state agencies collaborate and make decisions about future climate adaptation projects that prioritize equitable solutions to community vulnerabilities.