| Birch Bay Drive and Pedestrian Facility Project |
| aka The Berm or Wolf's Beach Restoration |
| “The project is a shoreline enhancement project to reduce erosion and storm damage, improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, enhance shore access, and improve storm drainage along Birch Bay Drive between Alderson and Birch Point Roads.” |
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| Looking south from Bay Center |
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| "...those values which people of the future will prize most highly, namely those found in the natural scene, are yet retrievable here by giving nature a second chance."
-Wolf Bauer 1975
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| Get Educated ** Get Involved |
Whatcom County Public Works webpage for the Birch Bay Drive & Pedestrian Facility Project:
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Project Newsletter for the Birch Bay Drive & Pedestrian Facility (aka Wolf's Beach Restoration) by the Whatcom County Public Works Department
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Newsletter #1, Mar. 18, 2013 |
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| Point Whitehorn |
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The Rumor & Response on 4/25/2013
The Rumor: I heard the cost to underground the utilities on Birch Bay Drive is too expensive for the Pedestrian project and that the County Council will require a separate bond issue and assessment for property owners along the Drive.
The Facts at this time from Whatcom County Project Manager Roland Middleton:
We asked the design team (Reid-Middleton) to prepare a detailed cost analysis for the entire project as set forth by the goals of your community plan. This would include the reconstruction of the beach through the resort commercial area, repair of the tide gate at Terrell Creek, bike lanes, paths, potential restroom locations, and undergrounding all the utilities from Alderson Road all the way to Birch Point Road.
The preliminary information that I have is undergrounding the utilities are far more expensive than any of our previous discussions. We are still pulling together additional information as to the real costs. I expect we will have the break down before our May 29th meeting.
Once we have the information in front of us then we can discuss the appropriate phasing of the project.
I was asked at one of the neighborhood meetings, “What options do we (the Birch Bay Community) have if the County can’t afford to do the undergrounding of the utilities?” I replied that the undergrounding of the utilities is a specific defined goal of the community plan. Whatcom County is looking at all possibilities of implementing the plan. One of many possibilities is raising money through a Local Improvement District for the specific task of the utility work.
Again, we are still pulling together the information.
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Rights of Way - in Whatcom County and as documented on Birch Bay Drive.
Perhaps you have noticed the surveyor stakes going up delineating the edges of the 60ft. Birch Bay Drive ROW between Alderson Rd. and Birch Point road. Please note: this is ONLY establishing the limits of the ROW, this is NOT necessarily where the road will be. Each property will be evaluated individually in discussion with the property owner based on need when the designing gets to that stage.
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Rights of Way (ROW) in Whatcom County explained. |
ROW documents for Birch Bay Drive |
| The Storm & Flood of 1982 |
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| Taken from the steps of the Bay Center Market with the logs at the foot of the steps. |
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| The King Tide Storm & Flood of 2012 |
Why the Wolf's Beach restoration is needed to prevent property damage. This video was taken on the morning of Dec. 17, 2012.
Video link
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The Birch Bay Waterfront Group are self-sellected community citizens serving as the implementation subcommittee of the Birch Bay Steering Committee for the Birch Bay Community Plan as adopted in 2004 to work on accomplishing
Goal PR 2: Recognizing that Birch Bay is one of Washington's Shorelines of Statewide Significance, to develop a long-range course of action that provides for high quality recreation use while protecting the resource itself and respecting the rights and ambiance of private property owners.
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The Last Meeting of the Birch Bay Waterfront Group was:
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 4PM in the Fireside Room
of the Birch Bay Bible Community Church, 4460 Bay Road
Special Guests were:
Alexandra Stone with the NPS
Kevin Thompson, Design Engineer with Whatcom County Public Works
The public is welcome to attend these meetings.
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Q & A: article about the project |
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| Birch Bay Golf Resort |
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| Shore Acres |
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| 1975 - Birch Bay Shore Resource Analysis by Wolf Bauer |
| The Original 1977 Concept from the Sub-area Plan |
Whatcom County shall work with private land owners, citizen groups, developers, and other agencies to implement the Birch Bay Promenade as presented in the 1977 Birch Bay Comprehensive Plan . . . (Policy 2.04.4)
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| Wolf's 1981 Beach Restoration on Terrell Spit at Birch Bay |
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| 1981 Wolf's Beach Restoration to protect the town homes built on the narrow spit. |
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| Wolf-head canoe, Vancouver Harbor 1890 |
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| Crest Haven homes at 2012 high King Tide. |
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One benefit of Wolf's Beach Restoration will be the continuation of the Coast Millennium Trail through Birch Bay.
http://wcog.org/programs/olderprograms/cmt/
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| Birch Bay Healthy Community Assessment |
The last meeting of the Birch Bay Healthy Community Assessment Group was:
Thursday, April 4, 2013 from 3 to 5PM
at the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Center, 7900 Birch Bay Drive.
The Spring 2013 Bike/Ped count will take place
on Thursday, May 9th from 8 to 10AM and 5 to 7PM and
Saturday, May 11th from 8 to 10AM and 1 to 3PM.
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| A Tour, Before & After Pictures, and several Reports |
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Birch Bay Shoreline Ecology Tour -
Self-guided
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| Snow Goose on Birch Bay Drive |
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The Before picture is of mid-Bay showing all the groins.
The After picture is of the 1980's-restored section of shoreline just north of the mouth of Terrell Creek.
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Before & After Pictures |
| Marine Park in Bellingham |
This article is about the award-winning Marine Park beach restoration in Bellingham. This Port of Bellingham project shows what the Birch Bay shoreline could be like with a similar restoration for the same reasons as prescribed by Wolf Bauer in 1975.
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Marine Park Restoration Article |
The "Cottonwood Ladies" (Carol, Doralee & Claudia) wanted to know what that "smelly pinkish algae-like stuff" is in the water & on the beach here at Birch Bay that they hadn't seen before. So they called someone who talked to someone else who called a research center, sent pictures & samples and here are the results for all of us to see. July 2009
"Hi everyone,
Dr. Strom believes the mat to be a purple sulfur bacteria. I've attached her email below so you can see her notes. From a quick internet search it doesn't appear that this bacteria is harmful to human health, although I certainly did not do an exhaustive search. The anoxic (low oxygen) environment could also be the cause of the dead varnish clams you referred to, Carol.
Take care,
Melissa
Melissa and Sylvia,
Our best guess - and I am feeling pretty confident about this - is purple sulfur bacteria. They form in illuminated anoxic environments and tend to form layers or mats. The habitat would have to be 'sulfidic' and so should have been pretty smelly. There are some pictures that come up with an image search on the web that show beach coatings looking a lot like those in your photos. It is definitely bacterial (1-2 um diameter cells with no nucleus) and in the most recent sample we saw enough red autofluorescent cells to convince us that the critter is photosynthetic. So it all seems to fit.
Regards,
Suzanne (Dr. Strom at Shannon Point Marine Center)
Melissa Roberts
Whatcom County Public Works
Planner I - Natural Resources
322 N. Commercial St., Ste. 110
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-6876 ext. 50259"
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