The Barn Near the Centerville Beach Still Standing After the King Tides
The barn near the Centerville Beach yesterday morning after the King Tides on the 11th and 12th. [Crop of a photo by Margaret Kellermann]
Margaret Kellermann, captured these photos of the ruin yesterday after the King Tides a few days ago once again swept through the area.
[Photo by Margaret Kellermann]
Here it is in much better shape just a year ago.
And here are aerial photos of the barn during the King Tides earlier this week.
Here’s more on the barn: Sea Level Rise on the North Coast | California Trout
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This isn’t my barn or pasture land but it still hurts to see the barn get destroyed and the land beyond it poisoned with salt. Last year there was a sizable dune protecting the barn that had cattle grazing on it. As this photo shows that dune is gone forever.
Wind and water happen.
… And people removing beach grasses because they are an invasive species.
native beach grasses actually increase dune erosion. The way they hold on to soil creates small cliffs on the beach after storms called “scalps” these 4-6ft vertical surfaces dont allow a sand ramp to form quickly or allow sand to get washed up over the ramp and into the foredunes. Our native plant species hold on to the sand but not so aggressively that they block sand from being deposited onshore during the summer or create large vertical drops during the winter.
Salt will poison the ground for pasture grasses, but salt-adapted vegetation will move in. Nature finds a way to new balance, though it might not be what we want.
“Land poisoned with salt”, because E. coli is much better for soil and groundwater than salt…
Well, ocean levels change, but what we are facing now is going to be rather more dramatic. Any pastureland that is close to sea level now will be imperiled in a very few years.
Hello…are you from this area?? Of course salt got to barn and surrounding grass. Did you know that the Ocean is salty. Also there are sand slides. We’re you aware if that. You cannot be from our area and be that uneducated. Seriously !
Hi Charlie, well said.
To witness climate change and sea level rise, in real time is heartbreaking.
Unfortunately it will get worse, with more damage that will take an unknown period of time if ever to fix.
To the people who supported the wind project because you understand what our climate emergency is, good on you.
To all the so called environmental groups who were and are against the wind project, this is your legacy. Every day that goes by we are getting further behind the climate change curve, making it harder to reverse.
I like what you said. I’m an old person and feel the “spinnies” would have been very beneficial to this area.
Well said environmentalist. Our planet is changing. It is unfortunate we can not change as quickly. Wind is not the ultimate solution but it is a stop gap to the next viable alternative yet to be developed. The photo of the barn should be a reminder to everyone who lives near a coast line that things are changing fast. Photo should be on the front page of every news paper in the country but instead we bicker over ideology.
Most of the arguments against the wind project were outright falsehoods, something that seems to be considered acceptable these days. Take something false, present it as truth, often repeatedly, and waste everyone else’s time informing you it’s false when you already know it is and actually have an ulterior motive unrelated to the argument you presented.
” Take something false, present it as truth, often repeatedly, and waste everyone else’s time informing you it’s false when you already know it is and actually have an ulterior motive unrelated to the argument you presented.”
BINGO!
I was talking with a geologist last weekend studying the beach. He said there was a deep channel that was about 20 yards off the shore that has been filled in. The tide now just rolls up the beach. He said everyone blaming it on climate change is wrong. They have been out radaring the shore for a while.
I wish the wood was able to be retrieved and used to make historical tables or bars doors. It’s so incredibly sad to see them just wash away into the ocean. Is the ground stable enough around it to be trekked out to and recover them wood?
Given as there’s tire tracks in the photos…
However, salvaging the wood would require permission from the landowner, or if they can’t be located (I know nothing about the current ownership of that land – I think it went to a non-profit who then washed their hands of it and declared it the government’s problem), some kind of community consensus that a picturesque local landmark should be torn down, which you probably won’t get.
Not entirely sure, could be completely wrong, but, I thought beaches were public / govt property, even though the high tide mark was once far off. Look at the Malibu stretch where home owners tried, unsuccessfully, to keep beach goers off. However, being govt land, they might not be too happy if you were to get hurt, or crushed, while prying off old boards with rusty nails.
That said, a table, or something, made from that barn would be pretty sweet.
Agreed-people pay good money for weathered wood like that. And there’s enough junk going into the ocean. Dismantle it and make birdhouses? Have a big marshmellow roast with whatever’s left?
Current beach erosion here is not a product of sea level rise.
(Well, at least so far, over the next 100 years or so, it probably going to get worse) .
It’s largely a marker of the coastline elevation/configuration changes due to earthquakes.
See those vertical bluffs (just south of Centerville) next to the ocean ?
Well, they were uplifted long ago, and now the ocean has been taking them back.
Sand is now building up on Centerville beach,is over-running the Eel delta,
and is filling the entrance channel in Humboldt Bay.
That process has been going on for maybe a million years (or so).
If you are worried about sea level rise affecting the North Coast… just wait around for the next big Cascadia Subduction earthquake. Overall, based on geological averages, it’s probably due in the next 100 (+-) years or so.
In the last ‘big’ earthquake (1700), Humboldt Bay and a lot of the coastline dropped about 6 feet.
Yes, that is feet… and that was in a minute or so. Clam Beach had a Spruce beach forest wiped out,
the remnants of the forest are still down below the sand… 15- 20′ or so.
Last quake (1992 or so) other parts of the coastline (Cape Mendocino South) gained about 10 feet… in about a minute. (It has since dropped back about 6 feet or so)
If you are interested… here’s a great YouTube lecture to watch.
https://youtu.be/UJ7Qc3bsxjI
Thanks for posting that! I thought I knew everything about our earthquake geology but I still learned something. I can’t say it was all that reassuring, but I already knew we could get “The Big One” at any moment. Nevertheless, very interesting. Thanks.
The county is planning to raise the road by Centerville Beach by 6-7 feet in 2022. I spoke to public works just the other day. I didn’t ask about the road between Fern Bridge and Ferndale or between Ferndale and the beach though.
These coastal estuaries are constantly changing. You can see it in action if you spend lots of time at the mouth of the Klamath. Where the river meets the ocean frequently fills up with sand. Then the estuary rises several feet and eventually washes out in the same place or where ever the path of least resistance happens to be and then drains back to it’s normal level. The mouth moves North and South all the time, you can see it move several feet per day if you go out there every day to look.
Big Lagoon opens and closes too, although the change isnt as frequent or as drastic because the creek flow coming into it is far less water that the Klamath river.
I’m sure Humboldt bay did the same hundreds of years ago too. Then the water would rise up to Freshwater, Arcata Bottoms, and where CR is before punching through the dunes somewhere between Table Bluff and Manilla.
The mouth will always need to be dredged from time to time it it’s to be kept open.
Thank you, that was very nice. He did leave out one detail about while the *average* interval between full ruptures is 500 years, the actual intervals vary. I looked at some of Goldwater’s stuff and it looks like there are clusters through time with several 250 – 350 years apart then partial ruptures or pauses in a space of 600 +- years, then IIRC, 3 to 5 of them in a cluster averaging the shorter 250 – 350 years intervals again. Partial ruptures can be larger than an 8.0, full ruptures slightly larger than 9.0. I think the last one may have been 4th in a full rupture cluster, but I can’t remember.
After watching that lesson people should be able to look at some of the studies and summaries of Pacific Northwest scientist’s work and gather quite a bit of interesting information.
The article he talks about where it mentions “everything west of 5 will be toast” refers to damages to infrastructure- bridges being down, road collapse, loss of electrical infrastructure etc. I think the real “toast” would be coastal, but large areas might be unpassable on the ground.
Most tsunami wave and coastal inundation maps and data are generally based on less than a 9.0. Some are based on 7+. California’s estimations seem even more conservative than Oregon or Washington’s.
About that there is no sea level rise from Bozo.
Here is a well documented set of information.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
You don’t have to like it but you’d better accept it. Since 1990 average rise is 6”.
I’m particularly interested in the two different trends by 2100. One without Antarctic melting with a .3-1.2 meter sea level rise.
If Antarctic does start melting then 2.4+ meters.
Or you can just be sidetracked by Squirrel, or talk of cascadia.
Eh? No. We were talking about current ‘observable’ changes in the beaches here. (Not squirrels.)
Big movements in sand… entire bluffs washing away.
Historic (100 year) sea level rise is in inches… heck, what the heck, maybe a foot.
Historic (say 300 year) earthquake changes on our coastline are in 10’s of feet… (or maybe more).
Land changing elevations in response to tension or release of tension in the crust.
I did say if climatic predictions come true, the sea level rise will become very significant in the future.
A sea level rise in multiple feet… that will be a global issue.
If CalTrans is listening, they won’t be planning to raise the 101 dike or build a elevated road.
They will move 101 inland to the foot of the coast ranges.
In the future (I dunno when), life along the coastline might be… ‘interesting’.
Climate changes have been happening since the beginning, people are a speck in the big picture. Go see the sea monster fossils at the Berlin-Icyithsasour state park in Nevada at 7000 ft. Above sea level. It will happen no matter what. Humans adapt, it might not happen in your lifetime and that’s what bugs the environazis.
SQUIRREL SQUIRREL
ha ha ha.
I wanted to thank you Kym for this article. It sent me down a rabbit hole of memories and research all day. Memories of an 8 year old girl during the 64/65 flood. I do remember being worried about the golden bears on the bridge up ay Klamath, of all things. And not being able to go down to Pepperwood or Shively to buy fresh produce from the locals.
I know a lot about the county I grew up in, but somehow I never made it to the mouth of the Eel. Something I need to rectify. It is amazing that this old barn has survived so much.
I don’t know anything about woodworking, but it would be possible to make a picture frame or frames from that barn wood? Photos of the barn from its beginning to end and its written history could be hung in a museum for all to enjoy.
the loss of this property is a product of 4-wheelers, the ocean is just doing its thing. we have numerous spits to use as study controls. at this location 4-wheelers were able to drive thru the vegetated dune. you can flip thru the image years on google earth to study all of our spits, including this one. you can even see where the EBG has been removed by narrow minded biologists, which we will likely be replanting in the near future.
Waste of wood. Off to the sea. Damage wildlife and boats etc. If I went up and started collecting some for trim wood would I be stopped? I salvaged a barn out Branscomb a couple of years ago, took all I could. Framed all the windows in my living room. Stained up so pretty with some clear coat.
The barn is still owned by the surrounding ranch. They are rightfully very protective over their property. Last time I walked along the property line there where hunter cams every quarter mile or so. I would not attempt to take any wood without owners permission.
I hope people talking about taking the barn wood talk to the owner before doing that.
If they offered it for sale folks would buy it and they could make some pretty easy cash.