UPDATE: Newport City Council produces positive action for Yaquina Bay

The Yaquina estuary as seen from Paddle Park near Toledo, Oregon. Photo by Bobby Hayden.

Newport is now the first city on the Oregon coast to formally acknowledge the threat of climate change in management of its estuary habitat and plans to periodically revisit the issue. 

On Monday, October 21, Newport City Council passed a resolution committing the Council to periodically revisit its portion of the Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan (YBEMP) to keep pace with new science around climate change and sea level rise impacts, changes in natural resources, and anticipated development in the local area. This positive outcome arrives after an October 7 vote by the Council to adopt the first comprehensive update of its Estuary Management Plan in more than 40 years.

More to be done

Despite the good news, the Council stopped short of amendments and additions to the Plan to ensure that Yaquina Bay’s people and environment are ready for both future threats and opportunities. 

In the runup to Newport’s YBEMP adoption, Seven Capes Bird Alliance (SCBA) joined with several other conservation organizations on a detailed comment letter. Here are some of the important future changes needed for a climate-ready estuary management plan:

1. The YBEMP would benefit with the inclusion of zoning standards to make its commitment to consider the realities of climate change impacts enforceable. Yaquina Bay and its people deserve strong standards that would ensure consideration of sea level rise in zoning decisions, prioritize nature-based solutions instead of traditional rip-rap for shoreline stabilization, and mitigate impacts from submerged crossings like underwater cables. 

2. Special policies are needed to protect eelgrass beds in all estuary management units that contain suitable eelgrass habitat. Currently, management unit 7 is the only area within the estuary with a special policy protecting eelgrass, which is essential to the health of juvenile salmon, rockfish, Dungeness crab, shellfish, and migratory water birds living in the estuary.

Let’s keep the momentum going. 

The YBEMP’s next stop is Toledo City Council and the Lincoln County Commission, likely in 2025. We’ll be in touch about future opportunities to help support a climate-ready Yaquina Bay.

Thank you for your continued commitment to help protect Yaquina Bay! 

Action Alert: Join us October 7 to help ensure Yaquina Bay continues to support birds, wildlife, and our local communities!

Photo by Ruth Shelly

This coming Monday, Oct 7 from 6-8pm, is a pivotal moment for the future of Yaquina Bay and your voice matters. For more information on how you can make a difference, read below and check out Oregon Shores People’s Guide to Commenting on the City of Newport’s Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan Adoption

The Yaquina Bay Estuary, including Newport and Toledo in Lincoln County, links Oregon's coastal forests, rivers, and coast while sustaining salmon, seabirds, Dungeness crab, oysters, herring, and other wildlife. These resources support Oregon's economy and have sustained Tribal Nations since time immemorial. Estuaries also play a crucial role in climate change resiliency.

Photo by Rena Olson

In 2023, the Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan (YBEMP) was scheduled to be updated for the first time in 40 years, with the goal to modernize the plan and better reflect existing conditions. The YBEMP is a regulatory document that guides Newport, Toledo, and Lincoln County in making critical decisions about estuary uses. The Plan determines who can do what and where; thus shaping the future of the estuary and offering an opportunity to build ecological and social resilience to climate change and biodiversity loss.

For the part of the estuary that is within Newport city limits, the Newport City Council is moving to adopt the new YBEMP by incorporating it into the City’s own Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Codes. The Newport City Council will hold a hearing Monday, Oct 7, at 6 P.M at the Council Chambers,169 SW Coast Hwy, Newport, Oregon 97365. If you can’t attend in person, you can request a Zoom link from S.Marineau@newportoregon.gov. Lincoln County’s YBEMP adoption process will occur at a later date.

Let the Newport City Council know you support a strong plan to protect the Yaquina Bay estuary and all its vital resources. The plan before the Council is a substantial improvement. However, without clear and strong standards, considerations for important eelgrass resources, and a commitment to regularly update the plan, the Council risks future land use decisions that are out of step with what people and our local environment need. Urge the Council to make these three additions:

• Ask that the plan include mitigation measures that protect listed Threatened and Endangered Species, Aquatic Resources of Special Concern, and Oregon Conservation Strategy Species. The plan should also include climate mitigation standards to keep the estuary resilient to climate change. 

• Ask that every management unit with existing eelgrass resources contain a Special Policy to minimize impacts to existing eelgrass beds.

• Ask the city to commit to re-visiting the Yaquina Bay estuary sections of their Comprehensive Plan every five years, to keep pace with climate change.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday. Don’t forget to check out Oregon Shores People’s Guide to Commenting on the City of Newport’s Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan Adoption

Thank you for adding your voice to protect the Yaquina Bay Estuary. 

Action Alert: Your input is needed to preserve and restore Yaquina Bay Estuary!

The Yaquina Bay Estuary Management Plan (YBEMP) is being updated for the first time in 40 years. This plan guides Lincoln County, City of Newport, and City of Toledo in protecting the estuary’s species diversity and habitats while meeting community needs for appropriate development. The YBEMP not only has local significance, but also serves as the prototype for updating other estuary management plans along the Oregon coast. The public can comment on the draft YBEMP up until July 14, 2023.

Take action today to submit a comment urging that climate change be addressed and integrated in the plan. The draft YBEMP and comments form are available here or you can email comments to ethan@willamettepartnership.org. 

Yaquina Bay Bridge photo by Ruth Shelly

Do you have a favorite place in the Yaquina Bay Estuary where you would like to see natural resources preserved? Check out the map viewer to learn more about a specific place and how it will be managed. 

Please consider including any or all of the following recommendations in your comments:

• The County needs to address climate change impacts more fully in the update process.

• The updated plan should include a clear process to allow future revisions.

• The definition of “mitigation” should be expanded to include minimizing and avoiding adverse impacts to critical habitat.

• List any particular places in the Yaquina Bay Estuary that you want preserved or restored. 

For those looking for more detail on what to say in a public comment letter, please see the YBEMP Comment Guide. Watch our recorded webinar for more information on how you can get involved with the update of the YBEMP. You can also learn more and make comments at Town Hall meetings to be held in Newport (July 6), Toledo (July 10), and online (July 11). 

Thank you for your commitment to preserving and restoring Yaquina Bay Estuary and increasing its resilience to climate change!

Action Alert: Protect our estuaries - Stop ports from making an end run around state and local land use law!

A bill under consideration in the Oregon House of Representatives seriously threatens to dismantle environmental regulation and land use planning for all of the state’s deepwater ports. At the request of Oregon Public Ports Association, House Bill 3382 allows ports to construct, maintain, and improve deep-draft navigation channel improvements (greater than 37 ft. depth) without demonstrating compliance with state or local land use law. Ports could ignore land use and other regulations protecting habitats, species, water quality, and ecological functions including carbon sequestration. Had this bill been in effect earlier, the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas facility that Oregonians rejected by demonstrating it was not consistent with the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) would have gone through with little or no environmental review.

HB 3382 puts at risk birds, wildlife, fish, and water quality in irreplaceable estuaries across the state. As written, this bill would eliminate much of the environmental review for port deepwater projects in Coos Bay, Yaquina Bay, the lower Columbia River, and Portland.

HB 3382 appears to be fast-tracked with a first hearing scheduled before the Joint Committee on Transportation on March 14, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Make your voice heard in opposition to this bad legislation. 

Submit a written comment here

Sign up to give oral testimony

Please note: Written comments using the above link must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on March 16. If you send written comments past that date, please direct it to your state legislators.

More background information is provided on the Legislative Information System webpage.

You can use the sample message below or write one of your own.

Sample Message:

HB 3382 undermines land use planning laws for all of Oregon’s deepwater ports. Authorizing major development projects to proceed without demonstrating compliance with state and local land use law puts at risk the valuable public resources of fish, birds, wildlife, and their habitats within our irreplaceable estuaries.

In addition to rendering state and local land use laws ineffective, HB 3382 subverts processes for public involvement in the review and input of how some projects may affect the places we live, recreate, and work. Oregon has a legacy of public engagement in natural resource management. This bill denies the public opportunities to participate in the review process for port projects in deepwater channels. The bill also sets a dangerous precedent for special interest groups to exempt themselves from state and local laws.

Please reject HB 3382 by acknowledging its incompatibility with the Oregon Coastal Management Program, and that the bill is not in the public’s interest.

How to contact your state legislators