Clallam County is endowed with one of the most striking natural settings in Washington. The County’s lake, river, and marine resources are among the most pristine, diverse, valuable, and picturesque in the nation. In the mid-1970s Clallam County developed a comprehensive strategy for managing its shoreline resources in accordance with the State Shoreline Management Act. The County adopted a Shoreline Master Program with policies and regulations designed to accomplish three specific goals: (1) protect the natural environment along shorelines; (2) provide public access to public waters; and (3) accommodate water-dependent uses.

Clallam County has pursued these goals for the benefit of residents and visitors alike for over 40 years. During this time, County residents have witnessed the passage of the Growth Management Act (GMA), County adoption of a County Critical Areas Code under the GMA to protect sensitive areas (wetlands, geologically hazardous areas, aquatic and wildlife habitat conservation areas, frequently flooded areas, and critical aquifer recharge areas), regional watershed planning initiatives, the start of the Elwha River ecosystem restoration, the Dungeness River in-stream flow rule-making process, new National Flood Insurance Program requirements, significant public and private investments in salmon recovery, and a variety of other events. Despite the changing social, political, and economic circumstances, the County’s original Shoreline Master Program has never been comprehensively updated . . . until now.

Through all these changes, the County’s shoreline resources remain in relatively good condition overall. Development in the western part of the County is generally sparse and, in many ways, the shoreline ecosystem functions much as it has for decades. The fact that salmon runs in most of the rivers that drain to the Pacific Ocean have not been federally listed as threatened or endangered is evidence of the good stewardship of shoreline property owners, government agencies, Tribes and citizens.

Fishing organizations consider the rivers of western Clallam County to be among the most productive and pristine in the State (Figure 1-2). Effective land use regulations provided through the Shoreline Master Program will help protect the riparian corridors and in-stream habitats that sustain these salmon runs, preserving these important resources for future generations.

Extensive stands of private and State-owned timberland line the major rivers including the Bogachiel, Calawah, Quillayute, Hoko, Clallam, Sekiu, and Pysht. The forests help keep stream temperatures low, provide food resources for aquatic species, and contribute woody debris that builds complex in-stream habitat for salmon and trout (Figure 1-3). The Shoreline Master Program seeks to accommodate sustainable timber harvest on managed forest lands while preserving the essential ecological functions that healthy riparian forests provide.

Conditions are more variable along the shorelines in the central and eastern parts of the County. Many of the rivers draining into the central Strait have degraded floodplains or blockages that prevent salmon from migrating to upstream spawning grounds. The County is working with Tribes, timber companies, property owners, and State resource agencies to restore parts of the Lyre River, Twin Rivers, Salt Creek, and Morse Creek to improve habitat and allow these rivers to meander naturally across their floodplains. The Shoreline Master Program promotes and encourages these types of shoreline restoration efforts.

A major restoration effort is now underway on the Elwha River. Largely unimaginable when the Shoreline Master Program was first adopted, demolition of the Elwha dams creates the first opportunity to witness the “recovery” of a major river ecosystem. It also creates tremendous uncertainty for the residents who live downstream. Property owners and scientists alike acknowledge the need to monitor and respond quickly to changing conditions in the years following dam removal. Lessons learned on the Elwha River will improve and inform our ability to manage and restore other large rivers in Clallam County.

Another major restoration effort is underway on the lower Dungeness River, where efforts – including estuary and associated floodplains restoration – is the top restoration priority for the Dungeness basin. Initial restoration actions by the County, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and State Department of Fish and Wildlife have included property acquisitions, removal of structures and septic systems associated with previous uses, and native vegetation enhancement. Additional acquisitions, levee setbacks, and estuarine marsh restoration are currently being planned. The restoration of the Lower Dungeness will increase the quantity and quality of spawning, rearing and transitional habitat available to salmon runs. Efforts will also reconnect flood water storage areas, decreasing flood hazards to surrounding human uses and structures. These restoration efforts require considerable resources of time and money. Protecting existing resources from harm or degradation is generally much less expensive; that’s why the Shoreline Master Program contains policies and regulations to prevent new impacts from occurring.

Because of its location in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, eastern Clallam County has experienced relatively rapid growth compared to other areas of the County. This has led to shoreline management challenges related directly to water – too little flow for salmon and agriculture at certain times of the year; too much flow for river residents during floods; and substandard water quality caused by animal wastes and malfunctioning septic systems. The Shoreline Master Program can help address these issues by ensuring that new developments are located and designed to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and by reducing the potential for conflicts between adjoining land uses (Figure 1-4).

The marine shorelines of Clallam County are special in many ways. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a vital passageway for goods and materials as well as a critical migratory corridor for salmon and other species. Chinook salmon and Hood Canal summer chum, two federally threatened species, are among the many culturally and economically important species that migrate to and from the ocean through the Strait. These species forage and rear in the eelgrass and kelp beds that predominate in the nearshore environment. The abundant eelgrass and kelp beds that occur from Sequim Bay to the Makah Reservation are part of what makes the County’s nearshore environment so ecologically valuable and worthy of continued protection (Figure 1-5).

Clallam County’s beaches would not exist without the adjoining bluffs that provide the sands and gravel materials that make up the beach surface (Figure 1-6). The steep bluffs and rocky shores along the Strait supply sediments that build beaches and spits, including Dungeness Spit – the longest natural sand spit in the United States – which is nourished by the “feeder bluffs” to the west. The beaches and spits become spawning grounds for smelt, sand lance, and herring (Figure 1-7). They are also treasured places for surfing, beachcombing and other forms of recreation. A recent (2013) study of feeder bluffs in Clallam County conducted by scientists from the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Coastal Watershed Institute and Western Washington University confirmed that beach sediment from feeder bluffs plays an important role in maintaining habitat for forage fish. The study authors suggest that feeder bluffs be managed conservatively because loss of sediment supply to the nearshore, due to in-river damming and shoreline alterations, results in significantly larger and more variable beach sediment at the drift-cell scale. They note that protecting the role of feeder bluffs in nearshore habitat restoration practices is a high priority.

As part of the Shoreline Master Program update, Clallam County conducted a first-ever, comprehensive inventory and assessment of marine bluffs along the Strait of Juan de Fuca (see the March 2012 Shoreline Inventory and Characterization Report for WRIAs 17-19). Using a combination of field investigation and aerial photo interpretation, coastal geologists mapped and categorized the bluffs based on their geologic characteristics and contribution to sediment input. The mapping revealed high variability in the range of geomorphic conditions and the relative distribution of the different shore types found along the marine shore. The bluff characteristics vary due to the relative range of exposure/fetch, contrasting lithology/stratigraphy, sediment transport rates, drift cell lengths, and the influence of large-scale rivers systems including the Dungeness, Elwha, Salt Creek, Lyre, Twin Rivers, Pysht, Hoko, Clallam and Sekiu rivers. The mapping highlights three different types of feeder bluffs: talus bluffs (mainly Western Clallam County), feeder bluffs and “exceptional” feeder bluffs. The “exceptional” feeder bluffs (mostly located between the mouth of Morse Creek and the base of Dungeness Spit, between Kulakala Point and Gibson Spit, and along the Miller Peninsula) are the most rapidly receding bluff type. The bluff mapping and characterization allow Clallam County to tailor the shoreline regulations to protect the areas that are most critical to the marine sediment supply.

The eroding bluffs that are essential to beaches and spits can also be a source of anxiety to waterfront homeowners. The primary driver of bluff recession in Clallam County and other parts of the region is wave attack at the toe or base of the bluff. Clallam County bluffs are also subject to landslides, triggered primarily by forces acting on top of the bluffs, making them inherently unstable. There is widespread evidence of erosion and landslides, both recent and historic, all along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Some areas are more prone to erosion than others. Erosion rates in the range of three feet per year have been documented west of Dungeness Spit. As a result, a home site that was 131 feet landward of the edge of the bluff in 1956 is now a mere 28 feet from the edge (Figure 1-8). Some residents actively consider moving their houses back from the edge of the retreating bluffs for fear of losing their homes in a catastrophic event. More residents may face similar decisions in the coming years.

The threat of erosion and landslides will continue to pose challenges to developments along the bluffs (Figures 1-9 and 1-10). These challenges could intensify in the future as the effects of climate change and sea level rise become more apparent. These changes present significant challenges for shoreline planning in Clallam County and throughout the world. Planners and property owners will need to be increasingly vigilant when making decisions about how, where and whether to develop along the County’s shorelines.

Flooding and channel migration pose serious threats to citizens and property in Clallam County (Figure 1-11, a through d). Channel migration is a natural process that has a dramatic effect on freshwater rivers and streams and the people who live near them. River channels naturally move across and sometimes outside of their mapped floodplains by eroding the outside banks of a meander bend, or through channel avulsion. This can create very hazardous situations for development within the channel migration zone, which can be damaged or destroyed by gradual or sudden channel shifts (Figure 1-12). Where vegetation along the river has been removed, the risk of channel migration is generally greater.

People often try to contain rivers within their channels by hardening the banks with rip-rap or other materials that resist erosion. Levees and bank hardening are cited as major factors in the decline of salmon runs, so the challenge of protecting people and habitat is very real in Clallam County. Bank hardening reduces habitat quality for salmon and other species and can accelerate the flow, transferring the erosive energy downstream and potentially creating problems for other property owners. Locating development outside of the channel migration zones and maintaining riparian vegetation along stream banks is a safer, less costly and ecologically preferred alternative.

Already, the County has worked with partnering agencies to identify and move at-risk structures from the floodplain along the Dungeness River, and has done so in a way that maintains ongoing use of the structure (Figure 1-13). These efforts have occurred concurrently with ecological restoration.

The extent of a channel migration zone is difficult to accurately determine at a site- or parcel-scale; an in-depth study of an entire river reach by a professional hydrogeologist is required for accurate mapping. The Department of Ecology has documented and mapped many areas that are subject to potential channel migration along shorelines and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe has mapped potential channel migration zones (Rot, Byron and Edens, Pam; Delineation of the Dungeness River Channel Migration Zone, River Mouth to Canyon Creek; October 2008) for the Dungeness River. The County has used this information to inform the development of the policies and regulations in this Program.

In the future, more tough choices must be made about how to manage these areas and minimize risks to people, infrastructure and property. The Shoreline Master Program includes policies and regulations to limit new development in floodplains and channel migration zones, which helps keep these habitats intact and keeps people and property out of harm’s way (Figure 1-13). For example, this Program is consistent with the Dungeness River Management Plan recommendations concerning development within the floodplain and channel migration corridor.

Tsunami hazards are another consideration for shoreline developments in Clallam County. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources in coordination with local emergency management officials have developed tsunami hazard area evacuation route maps to assist coastal residents and visitors find safer locations in case of an earthquake and tsunami. These maps are incorporated in a tsunami evacuation information brochure available on the Clallam County Emergency Management web pages at: http://www.clallam.net/Maps/evacuation.html

The high energy, dynamic nature of the Strait and the Pacific Coast makes most of Clallam County marine shorelines unsuitable for docks, piers, and other offshore structures. As a result, there are relatively few structural modifications along the marine shoreline. Relative to other marine shoreline areas in the Puget Sound region, Clallam County has a low percentage of armoring. There are areas, however, where natural sediment supply processes have been disrupted. One area that is armored is the shoreline west of the mouth of Morse Creek into downtown Port Angeles, where fill and rip-rap have been placed and maintained at the toe of the feeder bluff along this reach to create and protect the former railroad grade that now serves as the alignment for the Olympic Discovery Trail. Similar to the railroad the rip-rap is intended to protect the trail, and the bluff with residences at top, from direct exposure to wave action, although wave caused erosion still occurs and bluff failures and slides remain common due to upland factors. The loss of natural sediment supply in this area reduces the amount of material available to down-drift beaches. Shoreline armoring has resulted in more dramatic changes along Ediz Hook, where loss of sediment supply in the area caused rapid erosion and necessitated rip-rap along its entire length to prevent washouts. The Shoreline Master Program contains policies and regulations designed to discourage and limit the construction of new shoreline armoring. This is consistent with the Puget Sound Partnership’s goal of reducing armoring throughout the Puget Sound region.

Lakes in Clallam County provide unique opportunities for private residential development and public recreational use. Both Lake Sutherland and Lake Pleasant support water-related development and are popular destinations for fishing, boating, and other water-oriented pursuits. Large stretches of the lake shorelines are forested and relatively undeveloped, which adds to their natural beauty and ecological value (Figure 1-14).

Although the basic goals of shoreline management are as relevant today as they were in the 1970s, the realities of balancing environmental protection with public access and water-dependent use are more complicated than they were when the original Shoreline Master Program was adopted. This updated Shoreline Master Program reflects these realities and provides an important tool for the continued stewardship of shoreline resources. Other tools such as ecological restoration, water cleanup plans, open space tax incentives, beachwatcher and streamkeeper programs, stormwater management plans, land acquisition programs, and property owner outreach will be needed to fully realize the community’s goals for shoreline management in the years to come.

Marine spatial planning is another important tool that is increasingly being used around the country and world to coordinate decisions for coastal and ocean environments, including in Washington State. In June of 2018, the Marine Spatial Plan for Washington’s Pacific Coast was finalized. This was the result of a multiyear planning process beginning in 2010 when the State enacted a marine spatial planning law to address resource use conflicts and the potential for new ocean development. The plan was developed by an interagency team with input from stakeholders represented by the Washington Coast Marine Advisory Council (WCMAC). Marine spatial planning uses data on the location of important marine resources, human activities, and other key components to determine the most appropriate locations for particular uses to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. In March 2010, the State legislature enacted a marine spatial planning law to address resource use conflicts in Washington waters. In 2012, the Governor amended the law and the legislature provided funding for mapping, ecosystem assessment, data tools and stakeholder outreach on Washington’s Pacific Coast. The Legislature provided continued funding in 2013 for the development of a Pacific Coast Marine Spatial Plan.

Maintaining the value of Clallam County’s shorelines benefits Tribes who have lived here for centuries, hikers who enjoy the views from the Olympic Discovery Trail, fishers after kokanee in Lake Pleasant, shellfish growers in Sequim Bay, surfers riding waves at Crescent Beach, business owners who benefit from tourism and, of course, shoreline property owners. Thoughtful implementation of this Shoreline Master Program is in the interest of all County citizens.