A new rule will ban driving on a popular beach near Manzanita, but one somewhat unexpected group is relieved they won’t lose access: dorymen.
At a recent meeting, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to ban vehicles on a stretch of beach that runs from an area known as Neahkahnie Beach, just north of Manzanita proper, down to the Nehalem Bay State Park boundary at the south end of the city.
There is an exception to the ban, though. Anyone who wants to use a vehicle to launch a boat from the beach will still be allowed on the beach. They’ll just need to get a permit first.
The dory boat fleet is a familiar sight in Pacific City, farther south, but it is rare to see the smaller, flat-bottomed boats motoring out from the beach and through the surf off Manzanita. Still, a handful of sport and commercial dorymen have started to use that beach in recent years.
“Manzanita is an important fishery,” said Lewis Doyle, a commercial and sport fisherman from Clatsop County, adding, “It’s small but important. … We can go and access fish in a drive that’s reasonable.”
When fisheries north of Cape Falcon are closed for certain species, the Manzanita beach — just to the south of this demarcation — provides a nearby option for access to Oregon’s central coast fisheries.
Dory boats typically launch directly from beaches. It’s not a boat to navigate rough water in, said Steve Godino, a recreational doryman.
“The shortest trip back to the beach when the weather kicks up the better,” he said.
Earlier this year, Doyle and the several other fishermen who had begun to use the Manzanita beach worried that access might go away.
Under a rule that has been in place since at least 1992, people could drive on the beach from Oct.1 to April 30, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. Vehicles could be on the beach to launch boats at any time.
The Manzanita City Council wanted to change that rule, citing public safety concerns, a longer tourism season and a busier beach as well as negative impacts on the beach ecosystem and wildlife.
In a resolution asking the state for new beach restrictions, the City Council said “motor vehicle travel on the beach is no longer compatible with the safe enjoyment of the beach on a year-round basis by Manzanita residents, second-home owners, overnight lodging guests and day trippers.”
At a public hearing in March about the proposed rule change, City Councilor Jerry Spegman said driving on the beach — in particular, occasional incidents of reckless or dangerous driving — had been a concern for several years. Until recently, city leaders had not realized they could request a change from the state, he said.
Tillamook County Commissioners ultimately supported the request as well.
For many who submitted testimony to the state, the new rule was welcome.
“Vehicles impact sensitive marine and dune environments and add unnecessary contaminants such as oil, chemicals, rubber and micro plastics to this fragile ecosystem which supports threatened snowy plovers, tired migrating shorebirds, many species of isopods and gastropods, and a plethora of other life just below the surface of the sand,” Emily Akdedian, the executive director of the Lower Nehalem Community Trust, wrote in comments to the state.
“This beach is a popular destination for visitors and the community and is predominantly accessed for outdoor enjoyment,” she added. “Vehicles diminish the safety of this space for all.”
But Akdedian also supported the creation of a permit to allow limited vehicle access, saying it could be a logical consideration for ADA accessibility and a way to balance access for activities like dory boat launching and wood harvesting.
Manzanita resident Yvana Iovino also wrote in support of the year-round restriction.
“People flock here, now at all times of the year, for the untouched beauty of the beach, Neahkahnie Mountain and the Nehalem Bay State Park,” she wrote.
She felt driving on the beach was “no longer compatible with growing beach recreation, ecosystem preservation and public safety.”
But like Akdedian, she also supported the idea of a special permit to allow dorymen to continue to use the beach.
Doyle is familiar with permits for beach access. He and other local dorymen are already required to take out similar permits through the Cannon Beach Police Department to launch their boats from an area south of Haystack Rock.
The permits are free. All the fishermen need to do is fill out a form that is available online and email it to the city. A response usually comes back soon, sometimes on the same day. Doyle hopes the Manzanita permit process will be as straightforward.
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department plans to work with Manzanita city leaders to develop a permit for the area — and to enforce the new rules, probably through a combination of the Manzanita Police Department and beach rangers from the nearby state park.
The new vehicle access rule goes into effect Oct.1.