The tally sheets from this month’s survey out on Kayostla Beach are up and on the web site. (The “Data” page is new, something I should have done a long time ago. Change comes slowly in some places, yes? Over the next few weeks, I’m planning on posting the other data I’ve been sitting on, including some pretty amazing numbers from the water sampling we did this year in the Puyallup River watershed. More to come, always more to come.)

Back to this survey: It seemed like a fairly representative sample of coastline. A wide swath of beach, but with most of the items located high on the transects, up among the drift logs and into the beach grass just above the highest wrack line. Numbers were highest for foamed plastic and plastic fragments, which is to be expected, although I definitely saw fewer large foam buoys than were there back in 2012. There was no identifiable foam insulation either, something that was abundant in the first months of tsunami debris coming ashore.

While this is a beach that sees regular visits, largely because of its proximity to the Norwegian Memorial (left), it is still a tough beach to clean. The nearest logging road is over a mile away via a good trail, but it’s still a long way to carry heavy sacks and bundles.

Of course, the satisfaction gained is in direct proportion to the effort exerted… see you on Kayostla Beach at the April cleanup!