Report by Friends of the San Juans highlights lack of regulatory review for new waterfront structures

Friends of the San Juans shares news about the results of a research project more than a decade in the making.

With more than 400 miles of coast­line, San Juan Coun­ty is a sanc­tu­ary of breath­tak­ing sea­side views. When left unchanged by the hands of humans, shore­lines and the wide range of life they sup­port are amaz­ing­ly resilient. Often a fear of coastal ero­sion — a nat­ur­al process that builds our beach­es — insti­gates own­ers to build struc­tures near the water, an approach known as shore­line armor­ing. Sea­walls, bulk­heads, and riprap are a few exam­ples. Shore­line armor direct­ly buries and alters safe havens essen­tial to small salmon and their prey, and dis­rupts the process­es that form and main­tain the beach­es we all love.

Friends of the San Juans just released find­ings from a decade’s worth of research that illu­mi­nate how San Juan County’s water­front prop­er­ties are shoring up in the face of devel­op­ment. The results are shock­ing. More than 90 per­cent of new shore­line armor installed in San Juan Coun­ty between 2009 and 2019 was built with­out the nec­es­sary state or local per­mits before being installed. Despite know­ing just how harm­ful armor­ing can be to habi­tat, the instal­la­tion of new shore­line armor is great­ly out­pac­ing removal.

Friends is dis­cussing this research with land man­agers and deci­sion-mak­ers, and work­ing coop­er­a­tive­ly with state and munic­i­pal offi­cials on solu­tions to safe­guard San Juan County’s beaches.

“It’s so impor­tant that we under­stand what’s actu­al­ly hap­pen­ing on the ground,” says Friends of the San Juans Sci­ence Direc­tor Tina Whit­man. “This research pro­vides an objec­tive look at cur­rent armor and per­mit trends. It clear­ly shows that if we are seri­ous about recov­er­ing salmon and orca, we need much bet­ter track­ing and per­mit and enforce­ment systems.”

Friends pro­vides free tech­ni­cal assis­tance to help shore­line prop­er­ty own­ers pro­tect their invest­ments and sup­port marine food webs at the same time. Con­tact Tina Whit­man if you are con­cerned about ero­sion and want to learn how to main­tain a healthy nat­ur­al beach, or are inter­est­ed in remov­ing an exist­ing bulk­head and want to learn about alter­na­tives to hard armor.

You can also learn more about the research and join the con­ver­sa­tion around healthy shore­lines at Friends of the San Juans’ free vir­tu­al event, titled Track­ing Change: Shore­line Armor­ing in San Juan Coun­ty. The event takes place Tues­day, Dec. 6 from noon‑1 p.m.

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