The Oregon Coast Rocks!

Fogarty Creek

Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area is just a few miles north of Depoe Bay, Oregon, and occupies land both east and west of Highway 101. This park was acquired in the 1950s by donation and sale from a neighboring landowner and named after John Fogarty, a Lincoln County judge.

More than a half million people visit this popular area each year. Children play safely along the shores of the creek, fishermen cast for surf perch from the beach, and agate hunters scour for treasures left by the receding tide. Nature watchers look for hauled out seals, numerous bird species, and the occasional whale feeding offshore in the invertebrate-rich kelp beds.

A new designation will help conserve these wonders for the future. In 2023, Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission, following the recommendation of the Ocean Policy Advisory Council, designated the 88 acres in Fogarty Creek’s intertidal and shallow subtidal areas (westward from the mean high-tide line to the outer edge of the offshore rocks) as a Marine Conservation Area (MCA). Fishing from shore and collecting souvenir quantities of kelp and algae are allowed. MCA designation prohibits offshore fishing and kelp harvest in this small area and the removal of mussels, barnacles, or other shellfish from the intertidal.

These rules will help conserve the integrity of the intertidal areas as well as the shallow nearshore waters. This new MCA contains bull kelp forests and other kelp species whose blades and holdfasts are habitat for an array of other algae and invertebrates that sustain a diverse food web, serving as nurseries for crab and juvenile fish such as salmon and blue, black, copper, olive, and kelp rockfish. As adults, these species are popular targets for the charter fishing boats based in Depoe Bay.

Fogarty Creek’s Marine Conservation Area designation ensures that the rich resources of this complex ecosystem remain intact for generations to come.

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