I often hear of the concept of coastal retreat talked of in rather hushed terms, as if it is an impossibility. But in fact, it happens quite frequently, though with very poor tracking and monitoring. As an example I've been following the relocation of a building on Ediz Hook which is now used as our community rowing club's headquarters:
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| February 2020 photo of the rowing club boathouse on Ediz Hook |
This building has been around for quite some time - here it is visible in a 1990 aerial photograph that is included in Google Earth:
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| 1990 aerial image of Ediz Hook showing what is now the boathouse |
But placement on, or in this case, over:
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| April 23 2020 photo of the boathouse showing its seaward overhang and the set of pilings placed on the beach that it rests on |
a dynamic shoreline would take its toll on any building, and over time the building sustained enough damage that the costs of keeping it in its current location, I'm assuming, became untenable. As a result, the building was moved. The site above now looks like:
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| 30 April 2021 photo of the former boathouse site |
The remaining pilings and framing are slated to be removed this summer, associated with a restoration project led by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.
The building itself is still around, and will continue its life as the rowing club's headquarters...just in a new and hopefully safer location:
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| 30 April 2021 photo of the re-located boathouse |
