Coastal Erosion Control Snapshots

The series of Snapshots show visualizations, definitions, environmental settings, advantages/disadvantages, metrics of success, design life and maintenance cycle requirements, as well as cost and permitting considerations for various types of projects that could be implemented for coastal erosion control in Oregon. The goal of this series of Coastal Erosion Control Snapshots is to provide a resource to landowners and land managers of possible alternatives that could be implemented for coastal erosion control in Oregon. Many of the strategies presented could be combined to make a hybrid alternative. The Snapshots are focused on the outer coast of Oregon, but many of the strategies could be transferred to estuarine coastlines as well. A simple overview of the coastal processes that result in the erosion patterns motivating the types of projects this Snapshot series addresses is linked here[link to the Information to Support Understanding Nature Based Solution Implementation tab]. This overview is followed by definitions and contextual information meant to ease interpretation of the series.

The Snapshot series was created between 2025 and 2026 by a group of graduate students and faculty at Oregon State University and the University of Washington as part of the Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hub. The information in the Snapshots was brainstormed with and reviewed by a working group that was comprised of state agency professionals and NGOs who work on the Oregon coast. Additionally, the Snapshots were presented during two workshops in spring of 2026 where additional feedback was solicited from a boarder audience of engineering, contractors, planners, state agency representatives, and landowners from Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.


   

 
 
 

Acknowledgements

  • The development of this series of Coastal Erosion Control Snapshots was supported by the  Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub, NSF Coastlines and People Large‐Scale Hub (NSF award number 2103713).
  • A group of graduate students and faculty at Oregon State University compiled the content for the Snapshots and graduate student MacKenzie Keen designed and formatted the Snapshot drawings and layout. 
  • A working group was formed composed of Oregon State agency representatives and NGOs representatives to brainstorm useful information to include in the Snapshots review the Snapshot content prior to publishing.

Creators List (alphabetical order by last name):

Graduate students and Postdocs at the time of creation: Colin Arnowil (OSU), Hailey Bond (OSU), Ian Clifford (OSU), Jenny Hamilton (OSU), Selwyn Heminway (OSU), MacKenzie Keen (UW), Kayla Ostrow (OSU), Mark Rotolo (OSU), Andrew Schuldt (OSU), Carly Ringer (OSU), Danielle Whalen (OSU), Louiza Wise (OSU)

Faculty: Celina Balderes Guzmán (UW), Sally Hacker (OSU), Peter Ruggiero (OSU), Meagan Wengrove (OSU)

Workgroup List: Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Oregon Surfrider Foundation, Oregon Sea Grant, OSU Extension, Oregon Department of Transportation, Friends of the Dunes

Contact for questions: Meagan Wengrove, meagan.wengrove@oregonstate.edu

Suggested Citation:

Wengrove, M., Clifford, I., Hacker, S., Heminway, S., Keen, M., Ringer, C., Ruggiero, P., Schuldt, A., Whalen, D., Wise, L., Arnowil, C., Balderas Guzmán, C., Bond, H., Hamilton, J., Ostrow, K., Rotolo, M., 2026. The Coastal Erosion Control Snapshots. Access through: The Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hub, link: https://cascadiacopeshub.org/coastal-erosion-control-snapshots/


© 2026 Cascadia CoPes Hub