Posted on November 11, 2025
NORTH COVE — Recent initiatives along the north shore of Willapa Bay are working to change the narrative about a shoreline that’s eroded faster than any other on the U.S. Pacific Coast — and none are more anticipated than a project that was recently awarded nearly $13 million in federal funding.
The Pacific Conservation District (PCD) announced earlier this month that it and Pacific County Drainage District No. 1 are in preparations to construct a “long-awaited, long-term” project aimed at restoring and controlling erosion in North Cove. The shore had come to be known as “Washaway Beach” in recent decades after suffering up to 100 feet of land loss per year caused by winter storms, tidal currents and ocean-borne waves.
This work is being supported by a $12.7 million grant that PCD received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2024. The conservation district said in a news release that it expects to submit requests for needed permitting in 2026, with construction currently slated to begin in 2028. Trending Deputy Rutzer honored for heroism Ocean Park Eagles hold bazaar
PCD was awarded the funds through a grant that the Washington State Department of Ecology received via NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, a competitive grant program focused on increasing the resilience of coastal communities to extreme weather and impacts caused by climate change, such as sea level rise and drought. Funding for the program came via the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed and signed into law in 2022.
Similar locally led projects already in place, PCD said, are credited with the beach recently growing outward “for the first documented time,” according to monitoring conducted by the state Department of Ecology. The conservation district praised officials like David Cottrell, a third-generation cranberry farmer and drainage district commissioner, and the community at-large for stepping up to find and support practical solutions beginning in the 2010s.
Collaboration between the drainage and conservation districts has led to more than $1 million in state grants to build and maintain an experimental prototype for erosion control across roughly 1.5 miles of shore, with local residents and organizations contributing additional funding through the “Washaway No More” community initiative.
The success of the prototype, as well as engineering designs that were commissioned in 2020 and the “determination” and partnerships formed along the way, led to the eight-figure investment from NOAA, PCD said.
“Pacific Conservation District is proud to help with this complex issue,” said Jackson Blalock, PCD’s marine and estuarine resilience program manager. “It is inspiring to be part of a collaboration built from the local community’s innovation and support, ongoing monitoring by the Department of Ecology’s coastal engineering team, and helpful insights from many more folks.”
The project, which will span from Tamarack Street eastward to the mouth of Pacific County Drainage Ditch No. 1, aims to rebuild the sandy beach by utilizing dynamic revetment, a nature-based approach that uses materials such as small rocks, anchored wood and native vegetation to absorb wave energy.
The waves redistribute the materials across the beach, helping to rebuild the beach and dune system — also improving habitat for endangered shorebirds and other species in the process.
Paired with increasing the width of the beach, it will also seek to reduce erosion to minimize the threat to private lands, State Route 105, the area’s drainage ditch and the local cranberry industry. Low-lying cranberry bogs between Tokeland and Westport are near sea level, and the erosion of high ground that protects the area puts the bogs at risk of saltwater flooding that could lead to millions of dollars in annual losses.
“While costly due to the scale of the project, this community-driven nature-based approach is more cost-effective than traditional shoreline armoring, provides benefits for beach access and habitats, and is more attainable for rural communities like ours,” PCD said in a news release.
“Future beach-goers may see more exposed rock during the winter, while sandy summer shores reflect the dynamic stability of the beach design. The nature-based approach for this project allows ongoing maintenance activities to incorporate insights from beach monitoring, best available science, and new relevant techniques in order to help adapt to unforeseen situations.”
PCD credited WECAN, “Willapa Erosion Control Action Now,” with driving the project forward. WECAN is a wide-ranging partnership between residents, researchers, the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, and local, state and federal agencies, and the conservation district noted that the concept of dynamic revetment was first introduced in the area in conversations between Cottrell and the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Connie Allen, who also serves on the drainage district’s commission as well as the county planning commission, touted the North Cove community’s efforts “to preserve our housing and beach,” noting no homes have been lost in the last eight years.
“Now we concentrate on making our beach a beautiful commons that can provide safety and inspiration,” she added.
The design of the project will be guided by both a Technical Advisory Team — composed of engineers, researchers, regulators and current project leaders — and a Community Advisory Team that seeks participation from local residents, organizations and other interests.
The first Community Advisory Team meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 6-8 p.m. at the North Willapa Harbor Grange, located at 3198 State Route 105 in Grayland. Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP at mer.pacificcd.org/north-cove/.
